Starring the BSC, AGAIN!
by Rachel D
Summary: REVISED! Love Makes The World Go 'Round. SMS does Carnival. No flames, please! I know you don't like it when I'm angry! COMPLETED!
1. Prologue: Jessi

_**STARRING THE BSC...AGAIN!**_

A/N: For the record, there are several differences between this and Starring the BSC. There are two reasons why I chose _Carnival. _One, my community theater did that one about ten years ago, and I felt there were enough experiences to incorporate into the story; and two, it's now one of my favorite musicals.

**PROLOGUE: Jessi**

It was a fairly t ypical Monday in January at Stoneybrook Middle School. It also happened to be the first day back after Christmas vacation. To tell you the truth, we were less than thrilled. I, for one, was slightly glad to be back. Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself, as usual. (Man, I say that so often, it wouldn't surprise me if that was on my gravestone!)

Let me start at the beginning. My name's Jessica Ramsey, but everyone calls me Jessi. I'm eleven years old, in the sixth grade, and like—let's say two percent of the student population at SMS, I'm black. In fact, I'm the only black student in my grade, so I really stick out like a sore thumb. I live with my parents, my eight-year-old sister Becca (short for Rebecca), my two-year-old brother John Jr., or Squirt, as the nurses in the hospital called him, because he was so tiny, and Aunt Cecelia, Daddy's older sister. She moved in to help when Mama returned to work.

I'm also a member of the Baby-sitters Club, which was started by Kristy Thomas. She's in eighth grade, and the president. Mallory Pike, who's my best friend, and I are not only sixth-graders, but we're also junior officers, which means that we're not allowed to baby-sit at night, unless it's for our own siblings. That really sucks, but the good thing is, we free up the older members for the evening jobs. There are several differences between Mal and me. I have two siblings, and Mallory has seven! (Three of them are triplets.) She's also white. Plus, we're not only the oldest in our families, but both of us think our parents still treat us like babies. On the upside, they did let us get our ears pierced, so that's a start.

I'll tell you something. My skin color doesn't bother the BSC members one bit, but my family and I weren't exactly given a warm reception when we first moved to Stoneybrook. Thankfully, people are starting to be nicer, since they've gotten to know us better.

Claudia Kishi is the VP, and we hold our meetings in her room, since she has her own phone and phone number. That's a real plus, because that way, we don't have to tie up someone's phone line during our meetings, three times a week for half an hour. Claud also has the unfortunate task of taking calls when we're not meeting. Claud's Japanese-American, and lives with her parents and older sister Janine, who's a genuine genius. Janine may be a high school junior, but she takes college courses. I'm serious. Claud's grandmother Mimi used to live with them, too, until she died about a year and a half ago. I can tell Claud really misses her. Another thing about Claud is that she isn't exactly what you'd call a brainiac, but she loves art.

Dawn Schafer and Mary Anne Spier are an alternate officer and the club secretary, respectively. They're best friends, as well as stepsisters, which is because Dawn's mom is married to Mary Anne's dad. Those two were high school sweethearts, but went their separate ways to college, where they each met someone else. Sound confusing? Okay, I'll explain.

Mr. Spier married his first wife, Alma, who died soon after Mary Anne was born. In fact, I'm told that Mr. Spier was so upset that he sent Mary Anne to live with her maternal grandparents in Iowa, then wanted her back when she was a year and a half old. There wasn't a big court battle, and Mary Anne's grandparents reluctantly returned her. Mr. Spier wanted to prove that he could be a good single parent, and from what the older BSC members have told me, I think he went more than a little overboard. They said he invented all these rules about how Mary Anne dressed, wore her hair, etc. That changed when Mary Anne was able to show him that she was growing up.

Mrs. Schafer married Dawn's dad Jack, and they had two kids: Dawn and her younger brother Jeff. They divorced when Dawn was twelve, and Mrs. Schafer brought Dawn and Jeff to Stoneybrook, because it's the town where she grew up. Sadly, Jeff never adjusted to life in Connecticut, so he moved back to California to live with his dad. Dawn went back for a few months herself, but came back because she missed us too much.

Stacey McGill is the treasurer of the BSC, and being the math whiz that she is, that job suits her perfectly. She was born in NYC, and moved to Stoneybrook the summer that she was twelve when her dad's company transferred him to Stamford, which is about half an hour from Stoneybrook, and where a lot of our parents work. The McGills returned to New York a year later when her dad's company transferred him back. (Coincidentally, my family and I moved into the McGills' old house.) They had been in New York for a few months when Stacey's parents announced that they were getitng a divorce. The only decision Stacey had to make was which parent to live with. She chose to return to Stoneybrook with her mom, and boy, were we glad! (Mr. McGill stayed in NYC, because of his job, and Stacey visits him regularly.) If you ask me, I don't think anyone missed Stacey more than Charlotte Johanssen, Becca's best friend. In fact, calls her an "almost-sister".

Stacey has diabetes, and has to stick to a strict diet. She's also described as a brittle diabetic, which means that her diabetes is harder to control than most. Recently, a sweets binge, not to mention her changing body, put her in the hospital, which scared us half to death, including Charlotte. She played hypochondriac until she found out Stacey was okay, but thankfully, she was able to make a quick recovery and come home.

Abby Stevenson is the other alternate officer of the BSC, which means that she or Dawn takes over if someone has to miss a meeting. She has a twin sister named Anna. They're identical, but I can still tell them apart. Abby has long, and extremely curly, hair, and Anna has shorter hair with bangs, and a little straighter than Abby's. Both of them wear contacts or glasses, depending on their mood. Even though they're identical, their personalities are as different as night and day. Anna's the serious musician, and Abby's the jock/clown.

The Stevensons are originally from Long Island. When the twins were nine, their father was killed in a car accident. At least Abby never lost her sense of humor, which grows on you, whether you want it to or not. Also, if you've ever heard her sing, she makes William Hung sound like Frank Sinatra.

Logan Bruno and Shannon Kilbourne are our associate members, which means they take the jobs we can't. Logan is the only boy member, as well as Mary Anne's boyfriend. (They have what you'd call an on-again, off-agin relationship; right now, it's on.) The other guys used to give Logan a hard time about his baby-sitting, but they're more mature about it now. Well, most of them are, anyway. Shannon lives across the street from Kristy, and is the only BSC member to go to a private school, Stoneybrook Day School. Also, she and Kristy weren't exactly chummy when they first met, but they were able to bury the hatchet after she gave Kristy one of her dog's puppies after the death of their old collie, Louie.

Which brings us back to Kristy. She comes from a big, blended family, and as I mentioned before, is the president of the BSC. One of the reasons why she thought it up is because her dad walked out on them when Kristy was in first grade. Poof, just like that. No phone calls, no letters, money, or even a birthday card. Kristy's still pissed at him to this day.

On a more upnote, the summer after she finished seventh grade, her mom married Watson Brewer, who happens to be a millionaire, and they moved into his mansion. Watson also has two kids from his first marriage: Karen, who's seven, and Andrew, who's almost five. Along with her three brothers, Charlie, Sam, and David Michael, she has an adopted sister named Emily. Her grandmother Nannie also moved in to help take care of Emily and to help out around the house during the day. If that isn't the perfect description of a full house, I don't know what is.

Anyway, like I was saying before, we had just returned from Christmas vacation, and the reason why I was glad to be back is because I'd gotten dreadlocks in my hair. They come to the middle of my back, and can still be pulled back into a ponytail for ballet class. (I'm in the advanced class, and I've even danced leading parts in _The Nutcracker _and _Coppélia .) _Mama once told me that my dreads made me look like Lisa Bonet.

As I was walking to my locker, a notice on the bulletin board caught my eye. When I was able to get past some of the other kids, here's what I saw:

**AUDITIONS:**

_**Carnival**_

__**Saturday, 1 p.m.**

** SMS Auditorium**

All _right! _Another show at SMS! And boy, would we have something to talk about at the next meeting!


	2. Chapter 1: Jessi

A/N: Just a reminder that the _italicized _portions are the handwritten portions, and the **bold-print **portions represent e-mail.

**CHAPTER 1: Jessi**

_Dear Quint,_

_ Hey, how are you doing? I've been doing all right. Today was the first day I got to show off my new dreads. I think my parents have FINALLY accepted the fact that I'm not five years old anymore. HALLELUJAH! The only downside is, whenever Becca sees them, she does the absolute-worst impression of Bob Marley known to man. Oh, well. That's life, I guess. (By the way, I've enclosed a picture of me with my new 'do. I hope you like it.)_

_ Well, enough about me. How are rehearsals for your show going? Are you enjoying Julliard? I know I'd be if I went there. In fact, when I graduate from high school in about six years, that's where I'm definitely applying to. Oh, I don't know if you know this or not, or if you're interested, but Julliard was where the late Christopher Reeve went, and Robin Williams was his roommate! How about that!_

_ Oh, and I have GREAT news. I just found out that SMS (you know, the public school I go to) is having auditions for __Carnival__. I don't know all that much about it yet, but I think it'll be a lot of fun. In fact, at our BSC meeting, that was all we could talk about. I'm a little surprised that Kristy didn't have to resort to using a bullhorn to get our attention. Luckily, __Carnival__ was on her mind as well..._

That following Wednesday, we were in Claudia's room, going back and forth between BSC business and talking about the audition notice. "I wonder what _Carnival _is about," Kristy commented.

"Well, Mary Anne and I saw the show in Stamford sometime before Christmas," Dawn said as she finished off a bowl of strawberries that Claud had prepared for her and Stacey. "It's about a young orphan girl who gets a job with a carnival in the French countryside and falls in love with the magician, but it also turns out that the puppeteer is also in love with her, and there's a rivalry between the two men for the girl's affections."

"Oh, yeah!" Stacey exclaimed. "I remember seeing that in New York when I was with Dad over Labor Day weekend."

"Isn't there a movie based on this?" Abby asked.

"Yes," Mary Anne said. "It's called _Lili, _and it isn't exactly a musical, because there's more than one song in it."

"I remember seeing that on TV when I was seven and had the chicken pox," Claud remembered. "Mimi and I watched it together. What I remember the most about it was that song 'Hi-Lili'."

"Yeah, I remember that song!" Mary Anne said. "My Grandma Baker once told me that she used to sing that to me when I was a baby."

"Aaanywaaay..." we all said together. That's something that my friends and I do to get back to the original point of the conversation. And yes, I know it sounds a little ridiculous, but why should we care?

"There's also four puppets," Dawn continued. "There's a clown named Carrot Top, a walrus named Horrible Henry, a fox named Renardo, and a snobby rich lady named Marguerite."

"Cool," Claud said. "If they need someone to make the puppets, I'm definitely in."

"My favorite part was the contortionist act," Mary Anne remembered. "And you know something? As long as I live, I'll definitely never understand how anyone could do what she did."

"That's definitely for me," I said, trying to put my leg behind my head, but fell against Mal in the process. She tried to catch me, but ended up droppin g a couple of Milk Duds on the floor, and they rolled near Dawn.

"Ugh, _please _get that toxic waste out of my sight!" she said, very obviously faking repulsion at the sight of those two little Milk Duds. I would've gladly scarfed them down, but I have to be careful about how much candy I eat. As it turned out, Claud beat me to them.

"Let's just hope you stretch, and watch out for those dreads!" Abby laughed.

By then, it was 6:00, and the meeting ended. "Well," Kristy said. "I suggest we end this meeting on a high note." As soon as those words came out of Kristy's mouth, all of us hit the highest possible note we could muster. The only problem was, Claud, Abby, Mal, and I all sounded like we were being stabbed to death. (Honestly, I think Kristy's seen _History of the World—Part 1 _too many times.)

We all left, excited about auditions, and wondered what parts we'd get.

_So, that's what's been going on in my neck of the woods. I hope everything's cool with you and your family, and if you can badger and pester your parents enough, maybe I'll see you on opening night of __Carnival__. I, for one, wouldn't miss your show for anything. Let's just hope they're not on the same weekend. That remids me. PLEASE see what you can do about scoring some comp tickets!_

_ Your friend,_

_ Jessi_


	3. Chapter 2: Kristy

**CHAPTER 2: Kristy**

_Well, the day of the auditions is finally upon us. By the way, have any of you heard that expression about how everything is perfectly calm before some unforeseen disaster? I'm not sure how it goes, but I think Watson described it as the "calm before the storm" or something like that. Well, anyway, that's what I was feeling long before we got to the school._

_In case you're wondering, I'm talking about Karen making a spectacle of herself during __Peter Pan__ auditions. To this day, I can still hear the fit she threw regarding Tinker Bell, sometimes even in my sleep. Now, I'm not saying that Karen means to show off or draw too much attention to herself (and sometimes negatively). Far from it. But—and there's not a nice way to say this—she just doesn't think before she acts. In short, brace yourselves!_

The five of us arrived at SMS for auditions: my three brothers, Karen, and I. While my brothers went to get audition forms and scripts, I decided to have a little talk with Karen. "Now, do you remember what you did at _Peter Pan _auditions?" I asked, kneeling down to her level. In my opinion, that's the best way to get little kids to mind you.

"Hmm...you mean when I asked Mr. Cheney if I could be Tinker Bell?" Karen guessed.

"Right," I said. In the back of my mind, I thought, _You call screaming like a banshee asking? And let's not forget how you pranced all over the stage and embarrassed me in front of everybody. If _I _were Mr. Cheney, there's no way you would've ever been in the play_

"But Peter Pan without Tinker Bell is like _Annie _without 'Tomorrow'!" Karen protested. Luckily, she wasn't screaming at the top of her lungs about it. Yet.

"Yes, that's a good point," I agreed. "Anyway, what I'm getting at is, don't do anything to embarrass me or yourself, okay?"

"Deal," Karen said.

I knew that Karen would have enough sense to listen to me, but I also didn't think that Mr. Cheney would've ever gotten over that episode. Oh, well. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

As I went to get audition forms and scripts for me and Karen, I looked around to see who else was coming in. Just as I'd expected, the other BSC members were already there, as well as some of Karen's classmates, and some of our baby-sitting charges.

The next ones to arrive were Jason and Beebe Everett. They'd just moved to Stoneybrook last fall, and they're quite an interesting family. You see, Jason's real dad died about a month before Jason was born, and he and his mom came to America from Scotland when he was four. But for some reason, his accent never went away completely, even though he was that young at the time. That always struck me as a little unusual, because most people, when they come to America as children, lose their accents by the time they're adults. Ann-Margret, for example, came to America from Sweden when she was five, and her accent is long gone.

Bebe, on the other hand, was born in Toronto, Canada, and moved to Long Island with her dad when she was a baby. Despite the fact that she's lived in America since before she could talk, she has a very subtle accent. They also live in that brand-new apartment complex near my house, and Bebe's dad is the superintendent. They're really nice people, too.

Well, the next thing I heard was a high-pitched squealing: "JASON!" That had to be Karen, and I looked up just in time to see her jump on him and throw her arms around his waist. Ever since Jason helped Andrew after his bike accident, Karen has basically worshipped the ground he walks on. Not only that, but practically every girl at SMS is just ga-ga over him.

"Hi, Karen," Jason said as he regained his footing.

"Hi," Bebe said as she and Karen high-fived. Then Karen dragged both of them over to me. I'm surprised she didn't pull their arms out of their sockets.

"Hi, Kristy," Jason smiled, in his soft, yet very noticeable Scottish brogue. Besides that, the one thing I've always liked about him is that even though he _looks _dangerous, he really cares about you. "How have you been?"

"Oh, pretty good," I answered. "Oh, Andrew got his neck brace off last month."

"Really? That's great! I'll bet he was glad to have that little present, huh?"

"I'll say," I agreed.

By now, everyone had arrived, and you'd better believe it was noisy! Mr. Cheney was making his way onstage. If you ask me, compared to _Peter Pan _rehearsals, he looked pretty sane. However, I knew that it would be just a matter of time before the cast drove him crazy enough to make him want to check into the nearest mental hospital.

"Can I have everyone's attention, please?" he called, and much to my surprise, everyone started to quiet down. I was a little disappointed, because I would've gotten everyone's attention with my ability to whistle through my fingers, which is one of the things I'm most proud of.

"Good afternoon," he began. "First of all, welcome to _Carnival _auditions. For those of you who don't know, I'm Mr. Cheney, and these are some of the other people who will be working with you. To my left is our musical director Mr. Drubek, and next to him are our choreographers, Ms. Halliday and Jessi Ramsey. To my right is our student director Mallory Pike, and next to her is our stage manager, Mary Anne Spier. If there's anyone who isn't sure which part you want yet, please look over Paul and Lili's dialogue prior to 'I Hate Him' in Act Two. There are copies of that on my table."

After a few minutes of consulting, Ms. Halliday, Jessi, Mal, and Mary Anne, Mr. Cheney spoke again. "Okay, those of you interested in Lili, please get a copy of 'Yes, My Heart' from the table and assemble onstage." I went up on stage with a group that included Dawn, Cokie Mason (the BSC's arch-enemy), Madeline Carver, and Jennifer Abrams. We stood in a line, and one at a time, were asked to sing. I had a little trouble with the notes, but out of all of us, Dawn was the only one who did really well. I also noticed that Cokie did just as well, and I knew that Mr. Cheney would have a tough choice to make, like he did when he was casting Tiger Lily in _Peter Pan. _(Okay, two questions. One, can you say "desperate for a leading role"? And two, isn't it a coincidence that Dawn and Cokie also tried out for Tiger Lily?)

Basically, the auditions went something like this. Lili: Dawn, Cokie, Madeline, Jennifer, a couple of other girls, and me (we, of course, sang "Yes, My Heart"); Rosalie: Stacey, Shannon, Grace Blume, and a few other girls, including two SHS students (they sang the reprise of "Always, Always You"); Schlegl: Pete Black, Cary Retlin (my would-be boyfriend), Lucas Danver (a friend of Charlie's, who played Captain Hook in _Peter Pan)_, Alan Gray (God help us all!), and Charlie (they sang those two lines of "Direct From Vienna"); Marco: Sam, his friend Brian Durang, Josh Freeman, and two or three other guys (they sang part of "Sword, Rose & Cape"); Paul: Jason, Pete, Cary, Logan, Sam, Brian, and a couple of other guys (they sang the chorus of "Her Face"); and Jacquot: Pete, Cary, Logan, Alan (once again, God help us all!), and a few other guys (they sang part of "Cirque de Paris"). Then there was the dance routine that Ms. Halliday had worked out for everyone to learn. Even though it was pretty complicated, I kept reminding myself not to let it get to me, that not everyone's a great dancer, and that we'd learn. I especially kept that in mind when I saw some of the younger kids plowing into each other. And no, I'm not naming names.

After everyone had finished singing, dancing, and reading, there was silence for a few minutes while Mal, Mr. Drubek, and Mr. Cheney consulted their notes. Finally, Mr. Cheney stood up and faced us.

"Okay," he said, taking a drink from his water bottle. He must have been pretty thirsty. "I'd like the following people to stay for another hour or so: Dawn Schafer, Jason and Bebe Everett, Stacey McGill, Shannon Kilbourne, Pete Black, Jessi Ramsey, Bart Taylor, and Sam and David Michael Thomas. You all did a really good job, and we'll make sure to have the cast list posted outside the main office as soon as possible. Thank you very much."

"Congratulations, you guys," I said. "I'm sure you'll get good parts."

"I don't mean to sound full of myself, but I'll say it anyway," Dawn said. Then, in a high-pitched, whimpering voice, she said, "He likes me! He really likes me!"

If you don't think the rest of us were groaning, you're crazy.


	4. Chapter 3: Dawn

**CHAPTER 3: Dawn**

_Dear Dad, Carol, Mrs. Bruen & Jeff,_

_ Greetings from cold, snowy Stoneybrook, Connecticut! How are things going with you? I've been doing all right, considering the fact that I miss you guys a ton. I also miss the warm and sunny weather, but I'm getting used to the wind, ice, and snow. I'm glad to say that the roads have been pretty good so far. I don't plan on living where it's this cold, though._

_ Oh, by the way, Granny and Pop-pop say hi, and told me to tell you thanks for the DVD of __It's A Wonderful Life__. In fact, I still remember when we watched that for the first time when we were little, and Jeff did his Jimmy Stewart impression when he gets his second chance. How old was Jeff? Two? Three? I don't remember now, but I think that's the hardest I've ever laughed in my life. (If he sees this, tell him not to worry, I won't tell anyone. But he still looked pretty funny.)_

_ Oh, guess what? SMS is going to do __Carnival__ this year. (I'm still kicking myself for not telling you about __Peter Pan__). In case you don't remember it, it's based on this movie called __Lili__. Mary Anne and I saw the show in Stamford last month, and it was a great one. Anyway, I promise to send you guys a video..._

For the rest of the weekend, the only thing any of us could think about was what parts we'd get. For the leads, these were my predictions. Lili, either Cokie Mason (AKA the poor man's Paris Hilton) or me; Paul, probably that mega-cute guy, Jason Everett (who Claudia likes, but don't tell her I said that); Rosalie, most likely Stacey; and Marco...hmm. If he doesn't drive Stace to justifiable homicide, maybe Sam Thomas.

On Monday, I met up with Kristy and Claudia on my way to lunch. "Hi, you guys," I shouted, waving.

"Hi, Dawn," Claud said. "Oh, I heard that the cast list was going to be posted today."

"Really?" I asked.

Kristy nodded. "It'll be on the wall outside Mr. Taylor's office. If I were you, I'd definitely try to beat the crowd."

"Well, easier said than done, but I'll give it a shot," I laughed.

"So, what do you think will be on the menu today?" Kristy grinned wickedly. Around SMS, she's notorious for having the smelliest locker, because she leaves gym socks in there for months at a time, as well as making disgusting comments about the school lunch. "Hopefully, it'll be something that's easily identified by science."  
"Well, if it isn't, don't worry, because I've got enough peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwiches for all of us," I said.

"Well, thanks, but I think we'll take our chances," Claud snickered.

Sure enough, as soon as the last bell rang, there was a huge mob trying to see who was in the play, and the three of us were all the way in the back. What a surprise, huh?

Well, when we were able to get a closer look, here's what we saw:

_**CARNIVAL**_

__**Lili Daurier-DAWN SCHAFER**

** Paul Berthalet-JASON EVERETT**

** Jacquot-PETE BLACK**

** B.F. Schlegl-CHARLIE THOMAS**

** The Incomparable Rosalie-STACEY McGILL**

** Marco the Magnificent-SAM THOMAS**

** Grobert-JIMMY BOULOUKOS**

** Bluebird Girls-KRISTY THOMAS, KERRY BRUNO, BEBE EVERETT, PAMELA HARDING & ROSIE WILDER**

** Roustabouts-BART TAYLOR, LOGAN BRUNO, LINNY PAPADAKIS, JACKIE RODOWSKY & JEFF ATKINSON**

** Dr. Wilhelm Glass-BART TAYLOR**

** Angelo-DAVID MICHAEL THOMAS**

** Zuwicki twins-MARIAH & MIRANDA SHILLABER**

** Wardrobe Ladies-ABBY STEVENSON & BARBARA HIRSCH**

** Olga-SHANNON KILBOURNE**

** Greta Schlegl-NATALIE SPRINGER**

** Sign Girl-MARILYN ARNOLD**

** Clowns/Vendors-KAREN BREWER, RICKY TORRES, HANNIE PAPADAKIS & NANCY DAWES**

** Fortune Teller-JENNIFER ABRAMS**

Holy crap. _I _was _Lili! _I couldn't believe it!

"Oh, my God!" I cried. "I got it! I can't believe I actually got it!" The three of us were jumping up and down in a circle, and whooping it up like we'd just won the lottery. And by that, I mean like we'd gotten all six numbers!

"Well, I wonder who put a No-Doze in your Pepsi?" a sarcastic voice said.

We turned around and saw Cokie Mason. She'd apparently seen the list, and she was as far from a happy camper as anyone could get.

"Oh, don't worry, Cokie," Claud said with mock-reassurance. "I'm pretty sure there's a part for you."

"Yeah," Kristy agreed. "Maybe you can be the bearded lady."

"If you'd like, I can talk to Mr. Cheney and see if he can pencil you in," I added.

"Oh, wow," Cokie said, even more sarcastic than before. "That is just too, too funny. If I laugh any harder, I'll simply go into cardiac arrest." And with that, she turned around and flounced down the hall.

After we finished laughing ourselves, not to mention exchanging high-fives, we headed outside to wait for the other BSC members. It must have been 20 below out, but for once, I didn't mind, mostly because I was glad to have gotten the part of Lili.

As soon as I got to the entrance and was ready to head outside, I saw Mr. Cheney. "Dawn, can I talk to you, please?" he asked.

"Sure," I said. "My friends can wait."

"Good. Let's get out of the hallway."

I followed Mr. Cheney to his classroom, and he sat on the edge of his desk. "Yes?" I asked. And just when I thought to myself, _No, he wouldn't, _he did.

"Do you remember what you did during _Peter Pan _rehearsals?"

Oh, no. He just _had _to bring that up, didn't he? "Yes," I answered.

"I just wanted to remind you not to ad-lib or change your lines in any way this time, okay? If you do any such thing again, I'm afraid I'll have to replace you with Cokie, your understudy."

Like we couldn't have seen that one coming. "I understand," I said. "And don't worry. I don't plan on stepping out of line at all this time." Hell, if he does have to replace me with Cokie, the show would fold like yesterday's laundry. I thought about saying that to Mr. Cheney, but I changed my mind.

"Good. See you at the first rehearsal."

As I left Mr. Cheney's classroom, I knew I had a lot to tell Mary Anne: getting the part of Lili, our encounter with Cokie, and Mr. Cheney's little talk with me. As the stage manager, I'd have her help me make sure I didn't do something I shouldn't.

_Well, that's my story. Like I said, I'll send you guys a program and a copy of the video. I'll tell you more about it when I see you this summer. Say hi to the We Love Kids Club and our clients for me, okay?_

_ Love and sunshine,_

_ Dawn_


	5. Chapter 4: Claudia

**CHAPTER 4: Claudia**

_ Wow. Is it just me, you guys, or does everyone have __Carnivul__ on the brain? I talked to Mrs. Baehr about makinng the puppets, and she said, of course, she'd be glad to have my help. And when I babby-sat at the Perkins' yesterday, I told Myriah and Gabby about it. Now that I think about it, I kind of wish I hadn't, because the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by allmost every stuffed animal in the house! I guess it was Cirkus Day for those girls. Oh, and the next time one of you sits at the Newtons', do me a favor and DO NOT mention the C-word around Jamie, because I guarantee you, you'll be taking Exsedrin by the bagful!_

At our BSC meeting that afternoon, we were talking about what parts we'd gotten. Well, most of us were, anyway. You see, I was still kind of reeling from my sitting job at the Perkins'. What happened over there was this. Myriah and Gabbie asked if they could invite Jamie Newton over to play. Myriah's almost six, Jamie's almost five, and Gabbie just turned three, by the way. Anyway, since they're all such good buddies, I said okay, not knowing w hat kind of game they had in mind. As it turned out, they were pretending that the living room was a three-ring circus, and that's why they had all their stuffed animals out. (Mrs. Perkins did warn me about that, because she said they'd been to a circus the day before.) And of course, Jamie said he wanted to be the ringmaster. Now, if someone had warned me that he has the loudest voice under the sun, I could've handled it better. Oh, well, at least we all got through that sitting job in one piece. I can only imagine what would've happened if the Pikes _and_ the Rodowskys had been there, too!

By the way, all this _Carnival _talk reminds me. The only ones who weren't actually in it were Mary Anne, Mal, and I. Mal, because she's the student director; Mary Anne, because she's the stage manager, and also because she's petrified of being onstage, thanks to that summer ballet class we took together when we were seven, and on the recital day, Mary Anne stayed in the bathroom and wouldn't come out until someone got her dad to take her home. I wasn't in it, because I'd already told Mr. Cheney I'd design the scenery which is really my _forte. _(Yes, folks, since I've gone back to seventh grade, my vocabulary's been improving.)

Okay, back to the meeting. "So, did everyone get the parts they wanted?" I asked. I'd just handed Stacey the crackers, and was opening a package of Golden Oreos and passing them around. In case you're wondering, I'm a serious junk food addict and Nancy Drew mystery buff, but I have to keep those hidden all over my room, because, for some reason, my parents don't approve. They must be afraid I'll wind up with thirteen cavities and terminal acne. I've eaten the junk food for years, and haven't had problems with either. Yet. As for my Nancy Drew collection, they think I should be reading more "classic" novels. The only times I'll ever read one are for either a school assignment (recently, we had to read A Wrinkle In Time) or if I were having trouble falling asleep. Those are for Janine.

"Well, I kind of pictured myself as Lili," Kristy admitted as she got off the phone with Mrs. Kuhn, "but I guess I can live with being a Bluebird Girl. I'm just glad I don't have tons of lines to memorize this time."

Just then, the phone rang again. "Baby-sitters Club," Abby answered. "No job too small, no kid or problem too big." We all couldn't help laughing, then Abby continued, "Hi, Mrs. Korman, how are you?...Friday from seven to nine?...Yeah, sure, I'll get back with you."

Mary Anne opened the record book. "Claudia, Abby, and I are the only ones free," she said.

"You take it," I told Abby. "They live in your neighborhood."

"Okay," Abby agreed. She called Mrs. Korman back to let her know who would be there.

When Abby got off the phone, Stacey said, "You know, I'm kind of flattered to be Rosalie, and I wasn't surprised at all that Sam got to be Marco. All I can say is, he better behave himself."

"I'll make sure he does," Kristy said, smacking her fist into her palm. That got more than a few laughs.

"And I'm just glad to be the contortionist," Jessi said, successfully putting her leg behind her head. The rest of us tried, but none of us are quite that flexible. In fact, Stacey and Mary Anne almost fell off the bed. Amidst our laughter, the phone rang.

"Baby-sitters Club," I answered, pulling myself together. "Oh, hi, Mrs. Brewer...Yes, she's right here. Kristy, it's your mom." I handed her the phone.

While Kristy talked to her mom, Dawn said, "I really didn't expect to get the part of Lili, to be honest with you."

"Are you serious?" Mary Anne exclaimed. "I saw your audition! You nailed it!"

"Yeah," Mal agreed. "Can you imagine what would've happened if _Cokie _had gotten that part?"

_"Oy, _I don't even _want _to think about that," Abby added. "Knowing her, she'd be out of the show faster than you can say 'Uzbekistan'."

"I'll bet you can't say that three times fast," I giggled.

"That three times fast," Abby said, each word clear as a bell, and in the snobbiest British accent she could do, along with rolling the _r's _and pretending to adjust a monocle. This time, I was the one who fell off the bed from laughing so hard. I even managed to send an Oreo or two flying across the room. Kristy, still on the phone, caught one and stuffed it in her mouth without missing a beat. With coordination like that, she was going to make one hell of a Bluebird Girl!


	6. Chapter 5: Jason

**CHAPTER 5: Jason**

_ Hey, there. I'm not an official member of the Baby-sitters Club, but Jessi Ramsey still asked me to give her some notes for her journal about __Carnival__, so here goes. Today was the read-through. It was very interesting, getting to know the story we'd be doing, and learning about the characters. Before the read-through actually started, Mr. Cheney took Pete Black and me aside, and told us who would be doing the voices for which puppets, so it wouldn't turn into an episode of __Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood__. (Speaking of which, those of you who say that you never wished he'd dropped his shoe at least once, you're full of it.) Anyway, we were told that I'd be doing the voices of Carrot Top and Marguerite, and Pete would be doing the voices of Renardo and Horrible Henry. For our respective characters, Pete is using a French accent, and I'm basically making my own Scottish accent heavier than it really is. We've already got the voices for the puppets figured out: a really nasal, childlike one for Carrot Top; a deep, simple-minded one for Horrible Henry; a meaner-sounding French accent for Renardo, as opposed to his Jacquot voice; and a snotty, falsetto British accent for Marguerite. I can't wait to see what the puppets look like._

_ Anyway, the read-through was, in my opinion, the most interesting rehearsal yet..._

I was sitting on a bench outside SMS, drinking a Diet Coke, reading my script, and waiting for Bebe and DM to arrive. (By the way, "DM" is short for David Michael. He doesn't mind if Bebe and I call him that.) As I read my script, I could feel a real connection to Paul Berthalet, the character I was playing. You see, he was very bitter and angry because a leg injury during the war had robbed him of his dancing; so, to put it bluntly, he was literally forced to become a puppeteer.

That wasn't the only reason why I felt like I could relate to Paul, though. The real reason is because even though Kristy Thomas and her family appreciated me coming to Andrew's aid after his bike accident, I still felt like I was out of place here. Now, don't get me wrong, Stoneybrook is a lot nicer than Long Island, and the other kids treat me better, but I still feel like something's missing, mostly because I never knew my real dad.

A minute or so later, I saw Bebe and DM coming down the street. "Hi, you guys," I called, waving, as I ran to meet them. On the way, I drank the last of my soda, and threw the can in the recycling bin.

"Hey," Bebe said as the three of us headed toward the auditorium.

So far, the only ones there were Kristy's brothers, Sam and Charlie, and the SMS kids. The others would arrive later. As I opened the door to enter the auditorium, I saw Bart and Shannon arrive, and waved to them. While the three of us got our scripts and music out, I happened to look across the room and see Jessi Ramsey's dreadlocks, which were beautiful. Now, I don't mean to sound racist, but dreads look better on black people than on white. White people, in my opinion, should never have them. Vanilla Ice did once, as did Billy Idol, and boy, did they look _ugly! _The only exceptions are the guys in Korn, Perry Ferrell from Jane's Addiction, Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin, and Rob Zombie.

Then Jessi turned around. "Oh, hi, Jason," she said.

"Hi, Jessi," I said. I wondered if she'd seen me checking her hair out. I know Bebe did, because when I waved to Jessi, I saw Bebe giving me the "You like her, don't you?" look.

Just then, the little kids started arriving, and making a _lot _of noise. Of all of them, I'd probably have to say that Karen was the loudest.

"Hi, Jason! Hi, Jason!" she squealed as she ran up and threw her arms around my waist. Her two friends, Hannie and Nancy, were waiting for their turn to do the same thing. They never got the chance to do so, though, because Mr. Cheney entered the auditorium. Just then, Kristy came over and gently pulled Karen away from me. For a kid that small, she can sure knock the wind out of someone.

"Welcome, everybody," Mr. Cheney said as soon as we'd quieted down and taken our seats. "This, of course, is the read-through. For those of you who don't have scripts yet, you'll have to share with someone until we can make extra copies."

Then the read-through got underway. It was quite an interesting story, especially Marco's speech prior to "Sword, Rose & Cape", something like, "Don Marco de Heminez y Juarez", or whatever the bloody hell he says. The entire time, I thought to myself, _Who talks like this? _I'm pretty sure that Sam thought the same thing. Now, I'm no expert, but if you even try saying something like that to a girl, chances are, she'll look at you like you're on drugs. (Note to self: ask Charlie Thomas for his opinion.)

After we finished the first act, we got a five-minute break. After I got a drink from the water fountain, I saw DM going over his lines. Apparently, he wasn't quite sure how an Italian accent was supposed to sound, so I thought I'd help him out. "Hey, DM," I said. "How's it going?"

"Oh, pretty good. You know, I've never heard an Italian accent before in my life," DM confessed. "Any ideas?"

"Hmm," I said. "Have you ever seen _The Godfather_?_ The Sopranos_?_ Goodfellas_?"

"Huh?"

"I'll take that as a no," I said. "Okay, try this: 'Ay, Marco, you got a visitor!'"

"'Ay, Marco, you got a visitor!'" he repeated.

"Good, now try some hand movements," I suggested, waving my hand around like the guy who owned a pizzeria at the mall back on Long Island. If he's not Italian, I don't know who is.

"Oh, like this?" DM asked, demonstrating.

"Aye. Something like that."

"Hey, Bebe!" DM called out.

Bebe came over to us. "Yeah?" she asked.

"Watch this," I told her. "Show her, DM."

"'Aay, Rosalie! I know who she is! Ay, Marco, wake up! You got a visitor!" DM shouted, hand-waves and all. He really did look like a pint-sized version of your average Mafia gangster. In fact, I actually thought to myself, _Sopranos: The Next Generation. _That's how good of a job he did.

Bebe was si unoressed, she hugged him. "I want to take you home with me!" she exclaimed. "That was perfect!"

DM grinned and blushed, and that pretty much got him through the second act.

_I still can't get over DM's demonstration of his accent, and I'd bet anything that he's probably driving his family nuts with it. I just hope Kristy doesn't accuse me of turning her little brother into a pint-sized Michael Corleone. If she does, please give her my apologies, and tell her I was just doing DM a favor by giving him a few pointers._

_ On a more serious note, when I first heard that SMS was going to do this show, I was debating on whether or not I should audition. Mum says I should learn to try new things, or else I'd never know what I was missing out on. I'm glad I listened to her, and I think I'm really going to enjoy this play._


	7. Chapter 6: Mary Anne

A/N: Yes, the kid who played Angelo, the dwarf, in our production of _Carnival _really did use an Italian accent. Naturally, another of our castmates got a demonstration, and she really did hug him and say she wanted to take him home with her.

**CHAPTER 6: Mary Anne**

_Dear Grandma,_

_ Hi! How have you been? I've been doing all right. Well, you're not going to believe this, but SMS is going to do another musical. I told you about __Peter Pan__, right? Well, this time, they're doing __Carnival__. Dawn and I saw the show in Stamford last month. In fact, Dawn is playing the female lead in our production. Anyway, it's based on this movie called __Lili__, and it's a real musical, because there's more than one song in it, whereas __Lili__ just has the one song that you said you used to sing to me when I was a baby. I'm really looking forward to it. Come if you can, but if you're too busy, I'll understand. I'm not actually performing in it, but I'm the stage manager. And, if I'm not mistaken, the backstage crew is entitled to have family members come see the shwo. I'll have to ask Mr. Cheney. Anyway, I think you'd really enjoy it..._

The next day after school, Dawn and I headed to the choir room, where singing rehearsals were going to be held. Even though I'm the stage manager, I still decided to be there for support. After all, Dawn _is _my stepsister, right?

When we got there, Mr. Drubek was organizing his music in show order. Personally, I think he's a distant relative of Dad's, because the room, as well as his office, are so immaculate you'd feel like you had to put on shades before opening the door. In fact, I've got two words for Mr. Drubek: Tony Randall. (By the way, Tony Randall played Felix Unger in the TV version of _The Odd Couple.)_

Besodes Mr. Drubek, Dawn, and me, there was pretty much the whole cast, except Abby, of course. Compared to rehearsals in the auditorium, you could almost hear a pin drop. This was a good thing, because I had some homework to do.

"I'll just be in the back, Dawn," I said as I headed to the back of the room.

"Okay," Dawn said. As soon as I'd settled in my seat, I got out my books, calculator, and iPod. In case you're wondering, unlike Dawn, who likes listening to music while doing homework, I prefer either a quiet room, or listening to nature sounds, like waves, a thunderstorm, or a rainforest. Jason once told me that he likes listening to Pink Floyd's _Dark Side of the Moon _album when he's trying to fall asleep.

Rehearsal started off pretty well. When they started singing "Direct From Vienna", Stacey really threw herself into her part, singing as sarcastically as she could manage. I guess it really rubbed off onto the others, because they didn't sound too thrilled, either. In fact, Jackie Rodowsky, our beloved Walking Disaster, actually faked a yawn! Fortunately, when Charlie said his "Sing, or I'll dock you two weeks' pay" line, you can bet your grandpa's poker winnings they shaped right up.

The next song they did was "Beautiful Candy". I'd already finished my homework by then, so I thought I'd listen. I'm kind of sorry I did, because Mr. Drubek was apparently less than pleased with what he was hearing. "Okay, altos?" he said. "I can see that you're having a little trouble with the notes. What I need for you to do is belt them out here, okay? Imagine huge, strapping women in Viking costumes and braided armpit hair all the way down to the floor. _That's _what I'm looking for."

Naturally, the whole room burst out laughing. Well, almost the whole room. I was sitting there with the look on my face that I usually get whenever Kristy starts grossing us out about the school lunch. Stacey, however, actually jumped up and ran out of the room, shouting, "God, I'm going to need a Pepto-Bismol the size of an Oldsmobile!" Fortunately, they got through "Cirque de Paris" without laughing.

After they finished "Cirque de Paris", Mr. Drubek said, "If you're not in 'Sword, Rose & Cape' or 'Magic, Magic', you're excused, and I'll see you on Monday." Within minutes, the only ones left were Sam, Stacey, Dawn, and the Roustabouts.

First was "Sword, Rose & Cape". I should've expected Sam to be the one to goof it up, because—well, he's _Sam. _Anyway, in the speech that Marco makes, instead of saying what the lines actually were, he said, "Will you dine there with the man they call Don Marco de Heminez y Juarez, and all this other stuff, and I've never been to Spain in my life, and I'm actually on the run from the IRS, so basically, I have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, and I'd better slow down, because I'm starting to sound like the Micro-Machines guy!"

Once again, the room was filled with laughter. This time, however, the only ones who weren't laughing were Stacey and Mr. Drubek.

"Just say the lines the way they're written, huh?" Mr. Drubek said in annoyance. That was all it took for Sam to shape up and take the song seriously. To this day, I'm thankful for two things. One, Mr. Cheney wasn't there; and two, he didn't try to sing it like Neil Diamond.

Finally, they started on "Magic, Magic". The song went pretty well, up until Dawn jumped in with her lines. At first, she was having trouble staying with the beat, but was able to keep up after a few tries. Then, about halfway through the song, Dawn started to giggle. You see, there's a part in the song where Marco says, "I disclose her habitat", and yanks off Rosalie's underwear, and Lili says, "Did you see _that?" _Anyway, poor Dawn couldn't even get the words out because she was giggling too much, just thinking about what was going to happen next. I think Sam and Stacey were ready to strangle her.

Other than that, rehearsal wasn't a total waste.

_Anyway, that's what I've been up to lately, besides baby-sitting, of course. I really hope you can make it to Stoneybrook to see the play. I'll try to talk Dad and Sharon into sending you a plane ticket. I know for sure that Mama and Grandpa Baker would enjoy this, and they're up in heaven watching over us._

_ Well, I'm getting ready for a sitting job at the Prezziosos', so I'll talk to you later. I hope to see you at the play._

_ Much love,_

_ Mary Anne_


	8. Chapter 7: Sam

**CHAPTER 7: Sam**

_ Stacey McGill. God, as long as I live, I know I'll never understand her. Okay, so maybe I acted like a big shot during __Peter Pan__ rehearsals, but I thought for sure that she'd be way over that by now. I also think two other things upset her today. One was my comment at rehearsal the other day when I was playing around with my speech prior to "Sword, Rose & Cape". You know, the "Don Marco de Heminez y Juarez" bit. I didn't mean to mess her up, which I didn't think I did, but I guess I did. I was just having a little fun, and what's the harm in that? (Aw, hell, I'm starting to sound like my old man!) The other was something more serious. That, I was sure of, because that was the first time I ever heard her say what she said..._

The following Monday after school, I arrived at SMS. We were going to try to go through the whole first act, and we knew that we had to make it go as smoothly as possible.

Before rehearsal actually started, I was going over my lines when I saw Stacey coming over to me. She had kind of a sour expression on her face, which told me that she was still a little miffed over either the other day, or the way I'd acted during _Peter Pan _rehearsals, which I thought for sure was water under the bridge.

"Hi, Stace!" I said, as cheerfully as I could manage.

"Don't 'hi, Stace' me," she said sternly. "And don't tell me to say 'Stop this thing', either."

"Whoa, whoa!" I exclaimed. "Calm down. What's wrong?"

_"What's wrong?" _she asked incredulously. "After what happened the other day, you have the _cojones _to ask me that? If I were you, Sam Thomas, I'd be on my knees thanking my lucky stars that it was only Mr. Drubek who heard you. And another thing: if you so much as _think _'Rosalie, darling' around me anywhere else besides here, I'll smack you so hard, your children and grandchildren will be born seeing double!" And with that, she whirled around and stomped away.

_Damn! _I thought. I hadn't seen Stacey this upset since I'd fired that wet Cheerio at her when we were at Shadow Lake. On the upside, she didn't stay angry for long. Anyway, just to be on the safe side, I decided to stay out of her way. I even made a vow to never prank-call another BSC meeting.

Well, at least until the play's over.

Surprisingly, rehearsal started off without any problems, except for the occasional "Line?" You see, Mr. Cheney was encouraging us—no, _ordering _us—to stop relying on our scripts so much. So far, the only ones who were completely off-book were Dawn, Stacey and I (almost), Charlie, and when they weren't behind the puppet booth, Jason and Pete (for the most part). Like everyone else, I thought we'd able to get through this without wanting to tear each other's heads off.

Naturally, I was wrong.

Everything was going pretty smoothly up until "Humming". I was offstage, following along with my script, and just basking in the beauty of her voice. _If Simon Cowell were here, he'd turn into a puddle of mush, _I thought.

Unfortunately, when Stacey got to the "He'll be humming" part, I heard actual humming coming from backstage left. I looked back there to see Jackie, Jimmy Bouloukos, who's playing Grobert, and David Michael humming like those three frogs from _The Muppets Take Manhattan. _(If you ask me, the reason why those three frogs hummed so much is because they'd _just barely _escaped dissection, and were still a little loopy from the chloroform.)

Uh-oh. Stacey was getting distracted. She couldn't look in their direction to tell them to shut up, mostly because the script did not say, "Rosalie looks offstage left to see who is humming", so she tried to sing over them. I could also tell that she was getting upset. Charlie tried to help her out when his turn came, but even though he has a pretty strong voice (He has to. I mean, he's _Schlegl!)_, it wasn't strong enough to overpower the humming. Now, I'm not too sure, but I think I saw him looking at Mr. Cheney like, "Help!"

One thing I clearly remember is hearing one of those three—David Michael, I think—saying the "Something from the grill, Jill?" line. I don't know who was more tempted to go over there and give them an earful, me or Kristy. We may have to play "rock-paper-scissors" to figure that one out.

Well, at any rate, Stacey had finally had enough. She flung down her script and screamed at the top of her lungs, "DAMMIT, WE'RE NOT SELLING FRICKIN' OCEAN-BREEZE SOAP HERE!"

Dead silence.

The next thing I knew, Stacey had burst into tears and run offstage.


	9. Chapter 8: Stacey

**CHAPTER 8: Stacey**

_I cannot BELIEVE what happened at rehearsal today. Thankfully, it wasn't Sam this time, because the two of us had a little "chat" before rehearsal today. In fact, I'm talking about three certain cast members who were distracting me big-time. It's bad enough they did what they did, but what really pisses me off is that Kristy's own little brother was one of them! Sure, he's a little kid, and little kids will find a way to push the right button, but honestly! And to top it all off, for the rest of the day, everyone was looking at me like I was some kind of raving lunatic. The only good thing to come out of all this was not only Sam standing up for me, but also my sitting job at the Johanssens'..._

I'd taken all I could that day. I ran to the girls' room, kicked the door open, and stormed inside. Next, I yanked off my bracelet, threw it against the wall, threw my ascot on the floor, and punched the side of the paper-towel dispenser. I was so angry, and in so much pain, that I didn't notice the paper towels streaming onto the floor. Well, so what!

Just then, I heard one of the stall doors open. I looked up to see Mary Anne standing there with a surprised look on her face. "Stacey, what's wrong?" she asked, concerned.

"Oh, we were rehearsing 'Humming', and three of the guys were backstage messing me up," I fumed. And that's when I broke down and bawled like a baby. Honestly, I don't think I've cried this much since Laine Cummings turned everyone at my old school against me after I'd wet the bed we'd been sharing at Deidre Dunlop's slumber party, which soon led to me to being diagnosed with diabetes, among other things. Okay, so maybe this wasn't such a big deal compared to that, but I was still pretty upset.

"Oh, Stacey, shh," Mary Anne said tenderly, kneeling beside me. She put her arms around me, and I sobbed into her shoulder. After a minute or so of consoling me, Mary Anne handed me a tissue from her pocket. I wiped my eyes, and she helped me stand up.

"You all right, honey?" she asked. I nodded and sniffled. "Oh, your hand!"

I looked at it. My knuckles were swollen and scabbed, but for some reason, they weren't bleeding. If there's one thing Mary Anne can't stand to look at, it's blood. Since there wasn't any, she wet a paper towel and pressed it against my hand. The cold dampness eased the pain.

Just then, the door opened, and Ms. Halliday came in. "Is everything all right, girls?" she asked. I could tell that she wasn't too happy with what just happened.

"Yes, ma'am," Mary Anne answered, avoiding eye contact with Ms. Halliday. Either she was too busy helping me calm down, or she's still a little intimidated by that particular teacher. I'm guessing a little of both.

"Stacey? Would you like to come back to rehearsal now?"

"I'll be out in a few minutes," I said, calmer than before. Ms. Halliday nodded and left as Mary Anne threw the paper towel away and washed her hands. Then she picked up my bracelet and ascot as I washed my face.

"It's all right now, Stacey," she said, handing them to me. "Try not to think about it, okay?"

"Thanks," I said, trying to smile, as I put them back on. "Uh, by the way, sorry for getting mascara on your shirt."  
"Oh, that's okay," Mary Anne laughed. "I've got a Tide pen in my purse."

When we came out of the bathroom, I found Sam, holding my script. I could tell by the look on his face that he felt awful. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "My hand hurts like hell, but I'm fine."

"Really?" he asked, taking it. "Want me to kiss it all better?"

_"Sam," _I said, in the tone of voice I use whenever Eleanor Marshall is doing something she knows she's not allowed to do. But then, that's just what he did: he kissed my sore knuckles.

Call me crazy, but instead of carrying out my threat, I just stood there, dumbfounded, then all of my anger just melted away. Normally, Sam is a goofball with a capital G, but sometimes, and this was one of those times, he can be really sweet.

"Come here, sweetie," Sam whispered, and gave me a hug. At that moment, Jason Everett happened to be passing by on his way to the water fountain.

"Everything all right?" he asked. I nodded and waved him on. I guess he felt it was his responsibility to check on his fellow castmates.

Afterwards, Sam gave me my script, and we walked hand-in-hand back to rehearsal.

When we got back, I saw Dawn and Charlie going over the dialogue prior to "Yes, My Heart", under Mr. Cheney's watchful eye. I happened to look toward the stage door, and saw Kristy talking to Jackie and David Michael. She was talking softly enough that I couldn't hear her, but I could tell she was really upset with those two. I hoped she was telling them to behave themselves or else.

After she'd finished with that, she came inside and over to me just as Sam was walking away.

"I'm all right, Kristy," I siad, before she could ask how I was.

"Okay," she said. "Oh, by the way, Mr. Cheney says he wants to see you after rehearsal."

"Oh, boy," I groaned. "I bet I know what he wants to talk to me about."

Kristy nodded in agreement. "Don't worry, Stace. After all, it wasn't your fault."

"I don't know, Kristy," I sighed. I really didn't want to face Mr. Cheney, and the fact that the rest of the cast was looking at me like I was some kind of ticking time bomb didn't help, either.

After rehearsal, I timidly approached Mr. Cheney. "You wanted to talk to me?" I asked, but my thought was, _You wanted to yell at me and throw me out of the play?_

"Yes, Stacey, I did," Mr. Cheney said, sitting on one of the seats in the front row. He was upset, but he wasn't angry. Not yet, anyway. "First of all, I want to know what possessed you to use that kind of language in front of your castmates."

"I don't know," I answered. "I'm really sorry, Mr. Cheney. I don't normally blow my stack like this. I think it's because I'm a little more tired than I usually get lately, and I just wasn't having the best day in the world, in general. I guess it was getting distracted while I was going over my song that pushed me too far."

"Yes, I guess it did," Mr. Cheney agreed. "Look, Stacey, I'm sorry if you're having trouble with things outside the play, but the way you just reacted was totally unprofessional. Now, I just want to let you know that you're not in trouble this time. Tomorrow, I'm going to address the rest of the cast on what just happened. In the future, though, if someone's giving you any trouble, you should let me know, and I'll deal with it, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed. I was glad, and also surprised that Mr. Cheney was going to let me stay in the show.

I didn't have to be at rehearsal the next day, so I was available to baby-sit for Charlotte Johanssen. She's eight years old, very smart, and one of my favorite kids to sit for. When I first met her, she was really quiet and shy, and had no friends her own age. Now that she's skipped a grade, not to mention my good influence, she's come out of her shell a little more and has a new best friend practically every week. I'm still proud of her to this day.

Well, when I got to their house, the first thing I noticed was how quickly Mr. Johanssen was running around the living room.

"I've-got-a-meeting-and-Dr.-Johanssen's-in-the-middle-of-surgery," he was saying as I hung my coat up. "I-should-be-home-by-5:00-Charlotte's-reading-in-the-den-there's-apple-cider-in-the-kitchen-well-I-should-get-going-see-you-later." And he ws gone in a flash.

"Hi," I said to him as he hurried out the door. He must have been in quite a hurry. Oh, well. I picked up my Kid-Kit from the table by the kitchen door and walked into the den. Charlotte was on the couch, reading _Superfudge._

"Hi, Char!" I said cheerfully.

"Hi," she asnwered, looking up at me. She sounded a little upset.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, sitting down beside her.

"No, everything's fine."

"Are you sure? You don't sound like everything's fine."

"No, I'm all right," Charlotte insisted, but when she saw the look on my face that I usually get whenever I don't think someone's telling me the truth, she said, "Okay, I'll level with you. I heard about what happened at your rehearsal yesterday."

"You did?"

"Mm-hm. Jackie told me. He said you yelled at everybody and ran into the bathroom crying."

"Oh," I said. Apparently, Charlotte was afraid I'd lose my temper with _her _today. "Look, I can explain. You see, I hadn't been haivng a good day, and by the time I got to rehearsal, I wasn't exactly in the greatest mood. I should've just taken some time to myself before I did anything else, but I didn't. Well, one thing led to another, and I just flew off the handle. But don't worry. I told the director I was sorry for what I did, and he understood, so everything's all right now."

Charlotte nodded. "And Jackie and David Michael say they're sorry for what they did, too," she told me.

"Oh. Well, if you see them before I do, tell them I said no hard feelings, okay?"

As soon as I said that, Charlotte smiled that cute dimpled smile of hers. "Okay, Stacey," she said, givng me a hug. "Hey, you brought the Kid-Kit!"

"Yup," I said. "Your daddy also says there's apple cider in the fridge. Want some?"

"Sure!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"While we're doing that, you can help me with my lines."

"Okay," Charlotte agreed, grabbing my hand and leading into the kitchen. For now, everything was back to normal.


	10. Chapter 9: Logan

**CHAPTER 9: Logan**

_Dear Lewis,_

_ Hey, buddy! How are you? I've been doing all right. Oh, we got that letter from your dad. You know, the one about your basketball game last week. I just wish I could've been there to see you make the winning basket. I guess this means that your team's on their way to the championship, huh?_

_ Oh, did I tell you that my school is doing __Carnival__? It's based on this movie called __Lili__ (Mary Anne practically had to twist my arm and bribe me with a truckload of Klondike bars to get me to watch it with her!), but it only has one song in it. I'm in it, and so is Dawn. Do you want to hear about what happened at rehearsal yesterday? Well, when Stacey and Charlie were rehearsing this song called "Humming", three of our castmates were offstage in the wings, doing just that. They reminded me of those three frogs from __The Muppets Take Manhattan__. Remember when we watched that? Kerry and I were staying with you, and our parents were at the hospital when Hunter was being born. Anyway, you wouldn't believe what Stacey did. She threw down her script, used some pretty questionable language, as my mom would say, and ran out of the auditorium in tears. I just knew that Mr. Cheney was going to have it in for us..._

All through the rest of rehearsal, I not only felt bad for Stacey, but I couldn't believe what I'd just seen. An outburst like that was something I would've expected from Kristy, not Stacey. The one thing that really stuck out in my mind was that she actually swore—not only in front of the little kids, but also Mr. Cheney. I'll tell you something. The looks on everyone's faces is something I don't think any of us would soon forget. I'm just glad rehearsal continued uneventfully, but we were still a little cautious. And as for how Mr. Cheney was dealing with it, there was no doubt in my mind that he was pretty upset.

I thought about seeing if Stacey was all right, but after what just happened, I decided that it would be best if I stayed out of her way.

The next day at lunch, Jason, Pete, and I were sitting together, talking about the previous day's rehearsal. Ever since Jason moved to Stoneybrook, we'd become good friends with each other. Also, I hope he doesn't mind me saying this, but until I met him, I thought _I _had a thick accent!

"I don't know about you guys, but I never in a million years imagined Stacey losing it like that," I said as I took a bite of a chicken ring. The cooks think I'm a hoot, because I call them chicken donuts instead of chicken rings.

"Oh, yeah," Pete agreed, taking a sip of his Yoo-Hoo. "Kristy, definitely. Abby, maybe, but never Stacey."

"You know, I wasn't really that surprised, to tell you the truth," Jason said, taking a bite of his apple. He's one of the few people at SMS who's smart enough to pack their lunch. "What surprises me, though, is that Mr. Cheney didn't hear those guys. If he had, he would've been the one to lose it."

Pete and I nodded in agreement. "And just between the three of us, I'm glad I'm not the one in trouble this time," I said.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked, taking a sip of tea from his thermos.

"Logan and Alan were sword-fighting backstage during a _Peter Pan _rehearsal," Pete explained. "When Logan yelled 'Mutiny!', let me tell you, Mr. Cheney was PISSED. He actually kicked Logan out of the play."

"Briefly," I reminded him. To this day, that's one of several things I don't think I'll ever live down. If it were possible to permanently erase a memory from your mind, that would be one of them. Another would be the time I lost track of Johnny Hobart at the health fair, and King, of all people, happened to be the one to find him, then proceeded to rub my nose in it.

"Wow," Jason said. "Do you think someone will get the boot again?"

"I hope not," I answered worriedly. "But if Mr. Cheney does decide to kick someone out, it should be Jimmy, Jackie, and David Micahel. Just don't tell Kristy I said that, because she'd kick my ass."

And knowing her, she would, too.

That afternoon at rehearsal, as soon as everyone had arrived, Mr. Cheney stood up and faced the cast. I think he was wishing he had a beer.

"Okay, kids," he said, very obviously struggling to control his temper. Remember the scene in _A Christmas Story _when the teacher is lecturing the class after that one kid stuck his tongue to the flagpole? Well, this was sort of like that, only ten times worse. "It has come to my attention that some people were acting up during rehearsal yesterday. I'm not going to say who did it, however, because you know who you are. What I will say, however, is this: what you did was absolutely uncalled for. Not only was it distracting to Ms. Halliday, Mr. Drubek, and myself, but it also set a bad example for your fellow actors, as well as any newcomers to this theatre. In short, I'd just like to say that the next person who decides to disrupt rehearsal—well, don't let the door hit you in the you-know-where on the way out."

After hearing that, there was no way I was going to step out of line this time!

_Well, it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it'd be, but at least the show will go on. And just between you and me, if I were Mr. Cheney, as soon as this show is over, I'd catch the first available flight to Bermuda, because that man is in desperate need of a vacation. I think we all are._

_ Well, I should go now. Say hi to everyone in Louisville for me, okay?_

_ Your cousin,_

_ Logan_


	11. Chapter 10: Shannon

**CHAPTER 10: Shannon**

_Wow. I can quite honestly say that "pissed" is nowhere near a strong enough word to describe how Mr. Cheney was feeling. In fact, even though he sounded relatively calm, I just knew it would be a matter of time before he made Stacey's little fit sound like a firecracker. Now, I'm sorry for sounding all doom-and-gloom, you guys, but it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he decided to cancel the play. AT least then I wouldn't have to worry about how ridiculous I'm going to look with all those damn rubber snakes all over me. By the way, Kristy, you and Jessi must have an incredible cold tolerance, because by the time rehearsal ended, my feet felt like two blocks of ice. I just wish I knew whose brilliant idea it was for us to perform barefoot, because I'd like for them to see what it feels like..._

That night, I was in bed, looking over my music, and thinking about the day's rehearsal. I was also wearing three pairs of wool socks, because my feet were still pretty cold. I thought about rummaging around in the closet for the heating pad when Astrid, my Bernese mountain dog, came in, hopped up on the bed, and made herself comfortable right by my feet. Due to her size and how much fur she has, I decided I didn't need the heating pad after all, because she warmed me right up. "Thanks, girl," I smiled gratefully.

Anyway, like I said, I'd been thinking about rehearsals. While the leads were the only ones who were completely off-book, I couldn't get my mind off Stacey's blow-up and Mr. Cheney's lecture. On the upside, Logan and Sam were behaving themselves, after what I'd heard happened during _Peter Pan _rehearsals.

The phone interrupted my thoughts. _Wonder who that could be? _I thought as I reached over and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Hi, Shannon. It's Bart."

"Hey," I said. I'm always glad to hear from him. Not only do we go to the same school, Stoneybrook Day, but I also really like him. "So, what did you think of Mr. Cheney's lecture?"

"How did you know that's what I was calling about?" Bart asked.

"I don't know. People say I have ESP, but I don't think I do," I answered. "Seriously, though, what did you think of it?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, I think he's dead serious about kicking someone out if they screw around anymore," Bart answered.

"Yeah, really," I agreed. "I'm just glad Stacey's feeling better."

"Me, too. You know, as long as I've known Stacey, that's the first time I ever saw her get that bent out of shape. You think her diabetes had something to do with it?" Bart asked.

"I don't know," I said. "I hope not. Listen, it's pretty late, so I'd better get off the phone now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. 'Night."

"'Night." And we hung up. I put my music on the floor next to my bed, turned off my Tiffany lamp, and settled down to sleep. Astrid laid her head on top of my chest, and I patted her gently as I dozed off.

I hoped there wouldn't be any more episodes like the one we'd had yesterday.

That following Friday before rehearsal started, I was heading to the auditorium when I saw Stacey sitting on a bench and writing in that little black journal of hers. She'd evidently just taken her insulin shot. "Hi, Stacey," I said.

"Hi," she answered. She seemed to be doing much better.

"How did it go at the Johanssens' the other night?" I asked.

"Oh, pretty good," Stacey said. "Charlotte and I had some hot apple cider while she helped me with my lines. Can you believe she's never heard a Cockney accent before?"

"Really?"

Stacey shook her head. "I even mentioned the movie _Oliver, _and she's never heard of _that, _either!"

"How about that!" I exclaimed, then I started singing, _"Con-sider your-self at 'o-o-ome!"_

_ "Con-sider your-self one-of-the-fa-mi-leeee!" _Stacey joined in, and both of us, I might add, were using the Cockney accent.

After we finished laughing, Stacey remembered, "Oh, just so you'll know, they're supposed to be measuring for costumes today."

By then, we'd already entered the auditorium, and there, onstage, were Savannah Milton (who, I'm told, designed the costumes for _Peter Pan) _and Mallory. Mal was writing down the measurements as Savannah was giving them to her. There weren't a whole lot of people who needed to be measured, just Dawn, Stacey, the Bluebird Girls, the clowns/vendors, Marilyn, Sam, the Shillaber twins, and me.

Stacey and I made it onstage while Logan's sister, Kerry, was being measured. "Oh, hi, you guys," Mal called. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Hi, Mal," I said as Stacey waved. She was eating a granola bar.

"Thank you, Kerry," I heard Savannah say. "Next!"

"Go ahead, Shannon," Stacey said as she threw the granola bar wrapper away. I went to the center of the stage.

"And you are...?" Savannah asked, taking the measuring tape from around her neck.

"Shannon Kilbourne," I answered. "I play Olga."

"Yes, the snake girl," Savannah said.

"Ugh," Mal shuddered. She hates snakes, and I don't just mean that they gross her out. She's scared to death of them. The triplets, on the other hand, love snakes, not to mention scaring the holy hell out of the poor sister just by talking about them.

"Mal, I promise not to sic the snake on you,k" I laughed as Savannah measured me. Stacey laughed, too. That's when I knew that she was back to her old self again.


	12. Chapter 11: Karen

**CHAPTER 11: Karen**

_ I can't believe it. We're painting the set tomorrow. Yea! I just love that. Oh, by the way, this afternoon after recess, Ms. Colman had a little talk with me, reminding me not to upstage everyone like I did during the Thanksgiving play (Can I help it if I got the worst part in the world?), and I promised I wouldn't. I don't plan on doing anything like that again. I'm just glad Jason's in the play, too. He's SOOOO nice, and he has a great voice. This play is going to be such gigundo fun..._

It was the first Friday in March at Stoneybrook Academy. Hannie, Nancy, and I were sitting on a bench near the swings, talking about the play. This particular bench is really special to all of us. In fact, it used to be a tree, until a hurricane blew it down, so I talked Seth, my stepfather, into making it into a bench. "You know, I think rehearsals have been going a lot better lately," Nancy commented.

"Oh, definitely," Hannie agreed.

"At least Sam's behaving himself," I said. "After the way he drove Stacey nuts during _Peter Pan _rehearsals, I'm surprised he's still in the play. Kristy had told us that Stacey had told her about Sam's antics, like calling Stacey "Mother" and "Mrs. Darling" offstage, for example.

"Remember when Stacey had her blow-up that led to Mr. Cheney's little speech?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Until that moment, I'd never seen her get that upset. She even made the dad in _A Christmas Story _sound tame."

Hannie and Nancy giggled. That's when the bell rang, ending recess. My friends and I hopped off the bench and followed the rest of our classmates inside.

When we got inside, I put my jacket in my locker, and was on my way to my desk, when I heard Ms. Colman say, "Karen, I'd like to see you out in the hall for a minute, please."

Huh? What did I do? I couldn't imagine what kind of trouble I could possibly be in. Anyway, I followed Ms. Colman.

"Yes?" I asked, trying to hide my worry.

"Mr. Cheney called me last night, and one of the things we talked about was what happened during the Thanksgiving play."

That's when I _really _started to worry. I thought for sure that was ancient history. (I've even heard it said that history sometimes repeats itself.) I was just upset because I'd gotten stuck with such a crappy, yet important, part. And when you think about it, what could be worse than playing the turkey, anyway? "Look, I promise not to upstage anyone this time! You have my word!" I blurted out.

Ms. Colman laughed gently. "Okay, Karen, okay," she said. "I'm sure Mr. Cheney will be glad to hear that. He also told me to tell you that you've been doing a good job at rehearsals, and he's really glad you're taking the play seriously."

Whew! What a relief! I was glad that I wasn't in trouble this time. As Ms. Colman led me back into the classroom, I knew I had nothing to worry about.

Saturday! Saturday! Saturday!

It wasn't just any Saturday, either. We were going to finish painting the set today. I love painting, especially when it's something I'm helping Seth with.

It was unusually warm for early March, so I didn't need a jacket. I did, however, need to wear old clothes, because we'd be painting. I put on a faded pair of jeans and a ratty old flannel shirt that Seth had long since outgrown. It was a little big on me, but it would do. Mommy and Andrew were still asleep when we left.

When we arrived at SMS, the only ones there were Mr. Mackey; Kristy's friend, Claudia; Claudia's friend, Ashley; and the Everett family. By now, I'd met Jason and Bebe's parents, so I'll tell you what they look like.

Bebe's dad, Steve, is a tall guy, a whole head taller than Jason. He has really, _really _dark brown hair and eyes, tan skin, a big bushy moustache, and really big muscles, like the football players on TV. He also has a couple of tattoos: on his right shoulder is a tattoo of the Italian flag, and near his left elbow is a heart with Diann's name in it. The one thing that's really hard to miss about Steve is his moustache. It looks more like a beard, except there's no hair on his chin. Jason once told me that it made him look like this one guy named Lemmy Kilminster (I'm _pretty _sure tha's how you pronounce his name), who's the lead singer in this band called Motorhead. Even though Steve's a nice guy, I'd still hate to be the one to pick a fight with him.

Jason's mom, Diann, is a couple of inches shorter than Jason. She has red hair, like Little Orphan Annie, and green eyes and light skin, like her son. That's pretty much it, because from what I'm told, Jason got the rest of his looks from his real dad. The biggest difference between the two is that her accent is thicker than his, but I can still understand what she says.

"Hi, Jason," I called, running up to him.

"Hi," he said, kneeling to face me. He wrapped his arms around me and picked me up. He's such a sweetheart. "Guess what? Steve and I are getting ready to paint the sword-box. Want to help?"

"Sure!" I said. I told you I love painting.

"Great," Steve said. "Why don't you and Bebe paint the sides, and Jason and I will do the top."

Jason put me down, and we got to work. While we were painting, I happened to look over toward the puppet booth, and noticed that Claudia and Ashley were barefoot. I started to wonder why, but the sound of the Everetts' radio got my attention, as well as Jason singing along.

_"Children play in the pa-ark, they don't know-ow," _he sang. If there's one thing he's good at, it's singing. I learned this when he sang to Nancy's baby brother, Danny.

Before too long, we were all singing, _"I'm so happy-y-y that you love me-e-e..." _I, for one, was surprised that we could not only harmonize so well, but we were also singing along with a song that I'm almost positive was one that a lot of us had never heard of. It was gigundoly amazing.

We worked until noon, which was when Mr. Mackey called Pizza Express. While we waited, I went to the girls' room to wash the paint off my hands, and saw Claudia. "Hi," she said, throwing a paper towel away. "How are you doing?"

"Oh, pretty good," I answered. "Jason's got such a great voice, doesn't he?"

"I'll say," Claudia agreed. If you ask me, I think she likes him.

"He's really nice, too," I continued. "Did you know that he was the one who helped Andrew after his accident?"

"I know. Kristy told us."

"In fact, when he was consoling me that day, he called me 'love'."

"Really?"

I nodded, then I changed the subject. "Say, Claudia, this may be none of my business, but why did you take your shoes and socks off?"

"Well, I think they've got enough paint on them already."

"Huh?"

"Here, I'll show you," Claudia said, reaching under the counter and pulling out the _wildest-_looking pair of sneakers I'd ever seen. They were painted in all these bright colors, like a rainbow, and had clear beads sewn all over them, as well as those little gold star stickers, like the ones Ms. Colman uses.

"Wow!" I exclamed. "Those are beautiful!"

"Thanks," Claudia smiled. She cradled them in her left arm and walked out of the bathroom as I washed the paint off my hands and returned to the stage. That's when I figured, if it's warm enough to go without a jacket, then why not go without shoes? I rolled up my jeans, took my shoes and socks off, and put them under a nearby folding chair just as Claudia was putting hers near her backpack. I almost expected someone to tell me to put them back on, but nobody said a word.

Then I saw Jason sitting in the front row of the auditorium. I ran over to him, climbed up on his lap, and rested my head on his shoulder. "Hey, babe," he said. All that painting must have given him quite a workout.

"Hi," I answered. "Tired?"

"A little," he answered. "I'll get my second wind when the pizza arrives, though. So, what do you think of the sword-box?"

"I think it looks great. Thanks for letting me help you guys."

"No problem."

That's when I looked down and saw Jason holding my foot. _Please don't tickle me, _I thought. But then, that's just what he did. I giggled and pulled my foot away, then I remembered that Daddy used to do the same thing when I was really little.

Jason laughed softly. "Ticklish?" he asked. I smiled and nodded, then touched the side of his hand with my toes. "I remember when Mum used to do the same thing to me."

"Really?" I asked. Is there some written law that says all parents must do that to their kids when they're little?

A minute later, Diann came over and said, "The pizza's here."

"Thanks, Mum," Jason said. I climbed off his lap, and the two of us went onstage to eat.

All in all, a pretty good day.

The following Monday, I was hanging up my jacket when I saw Pamela Harding, my best enemy, come over. "I just thought I'd warn you," she said. "If you try to pull one stunt, I'll have Mr. Cheney throw you out of the play so fast it'll make your head spin. You get me?"

"Gee, I wonder who dropped a scorpion down your shirt," I retorted.

I expected Pamela to have a really mean comeback when she opened her mouth, but instead, she clamped her teeth together really loudly, then she turned on her heel and marched over to her desk.

Well, somebody didn't have their Minute Maid this morning!


	13. Chapter 12: Abby

A/N: The song in the previous chapter, or part of it, was "Make Me Smile" by Chicago.

**CHAPTER 12: Abby**

_Dear Gram Elsie and Grandpa Morris,_

_ Hi! What's new with you? We've been doing all right. Oh, SMS is doing __Carnival__ this year. You know, the musial that's based on the movie __Lili.__ Remember when we watched that at your house last Chanukah, and all our cousins started singing along with that song? I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't sing worth a crap! Anna's in the orchestra, and even though I'm probably the worst singer in the world, I'm playing a wardrobe lady._

_ Oh, speaking of Anna, she's doing just fine with her back brace. In fact, she had a doctor's appointment last week, and the doctor says that her spine's well on its way to alignment. At this rate, she should be out of the brace by the time we start our sophomore year of high school. Say a prayer for her, okay?_

_ We got our first glimpse of the set today. It was fantastic! The puppet booth looked so neat that I couldn't resist doing my Bob Ross impression. I still can't believe that Claudia went along with it. Today's rehearsal is going to be great..._

The following Monday after school, the four of us (Kristy, my twin sister Anna, Stacey, and I) were heading to the auditorium. "You know, it's so ironic that I got a part in this show, since I can't carry a tune in a bucket," I commented, spitting my gum into a nearby trash can.

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I couldn't catch a basketball if you put Krazy-Glue on it," Anna said.

I giggled. "Yeah, that does kind of make me feel better. Thanks, Sis."

"No problem."

"Oh, Claud says they finished painting the set over the weekend," Kristy said as we stopped at the soda machine.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yup," Kristy answered, opening her fanny pack and digging a couple of quarters out of her change purse, then she held out her hand. I knew what that meant. If we were thirsty, too, we had to pay up. (Note to self: if you ever go out to lunch with Kristy, don't expect her to pick up the check.)

While we forked over the money, Stacey said, "I wonder what it looks like?"

"Well, we'll soon find out," Kristy said as she put our quarters into the machine. She always seems to know what our favorite drinks are: V8 for Stacey (BLECCH! That, and I'm also allergic to tomatoes), Pepsi for Anna, Sprite for me, and Diet Dr. Pepper for herself. After we were all done at the soda machine, we headed to the auditorium.

The older kids were already there, of course. While Anna went to tune up her violin, I saw Claud inspecting one of the set pieces.

"Hi, Claud," I said as we came over to her.

"Hey," she said. "Well, what do you think?"

"This looks great!" Stacey exclaimed.

"Thanks," Claud smiled. "Ashley and I did the puppet booth over there."

"Wow!" Kristy exclaimed. Wow, indeed! The puppet booth was painted in all these different shades of red, yellow, blue, and green. The curtain, which was navy blue, had white and silver lightning bolts painted on it. It was really something.

In fact, I liked it so much, I ran my hand through my hair to make it look like an Afro, and said in a very soft voice, "Remember, this is your world. There are no mistakes in your world. And yes, this also goes for set-building. By the way, Claud, I think this little corner right here could use a little Van Dyke brown or Alizarin crimson, or whatever the hell color he says he uses."

"How about a happy little tree by the fortune-telling booth?" Claud suggested, also in a very soft voice.

"Oh, absolutely," I agreed. "And right here by Marco's trailer would be a great spot to paint a picture of a guy getting the crap knocked out of him by Smokey the Bear for lighting a cigar." We all got a good laugh, but Kristy laughed so hard that she spit her soda all over the stage. Fortunately, she had the presence of mind to turn her head away from the puppet booth.

"Want to see the puppets?" Claud asked as soon as we'd calmed down. "Mrs. Baehr helped us make them, and it took all week, too! Mr. Mackey made the two little stick puppets."

She opened the curtain. The puppets were lying on the shelf, and they looked really nice. Claud picked up each one, and showed them to us, one at a time. Carrot Top had a white face, red nose, and a mess of bright orange curls, like Larry from the Three Stooges. Horrible Henry was your typical gray walrus. Renardo was your typical fox, but he had a black suit, top hat and cape, and a melodrama villain's moustache. Marguerite had golden yellow hair made from yarn, in ringlets, a red evening gown, and a pink boa. She basically looked the same way that Cokie Mason probably would in about 25 years. And isn't it a coincidence that Cokie's real name is Marguerite?

"Wow!" I said. "Claud, these look fantastic! I especially like how you made Carrot Top look like Larry. You really outdid yourself this time!"

"Thanks," Claud grinned. By now, everyone was arriving, and another day of rehearsal was soon underway.

You want to know something? I think Mr. Cheney's lecture really had quite an effect on everybody, because throughout the entire day, things went more smoothly than usual. After what happened that one day when some of the guys were screwing around backstage, which led to Mr. Cheney's lecture, it was a nice change of pace, if you ask me.

On this particular day, the song we were rehearsing was "Magic, Magic", which meant that the curtain was closed, so we had plenty of time to get ready for the "Carnival Ballet". Barbara Hirsch and I were standing about a foot away from the Zuwicki twins, and I had a few scarves and veils around my shoulders, but I didn't mind. I juas just glad that we hadn't had any problems yet. "So far, so good," I whispered to Miranda Shillaber.

She nodded. "And the best part is, Dawn hasn't started giggling once." She was, of course, referring to the part in the song where Marco yanks off Rosalie's underwear. According to Mary Anne, when they were rehearsing that song with Mr. Drubek, Dawn was having a giggle-attack similar to that of our baby-sitting charges, and couldn't say her line. Thankfully, she was able to pull herself together and do the song.

Oh, speaking of that particular song, I'm happy to say that it went off without a hitch, especially the part where Dawn accidentally ruins the trick, and Charlie comes out shouting, "YOU! YOU'RE FIRED! GET OUT OF MY CARNIVAL, DO YOU HEAR!" He was _loud. _If I was halfway across campus, I'd bet anything that I could still hear him. When I caught a glimpse of Natalie, I noticed that her eyes were as big as an owl's. I'm guessing she's never heard him yell like that before. I was pretty surprised myself.

The next song was "Kommen", and I could hear the Bluebird Girls very well. I was also enjoying the song, when all of a sudden, I heard a sound that could only be two people crashing into each other, as well as the music stopping. I knew I should've stayed put, but my instincts told me to see what happened. So, risking a reprimand from Mr. Cheney, I ran to the curtain and poked my head out between the two sides to see what had happened.

What I saw was this: Bebe Everett and Pamela Harding were sprawled out on the stage, just laughing hysterically. Kristy was standing between them, and I could tell that she was trying to decide whether to get angry or laugh with them. Rosie Wilder and Logan's sister Kerry were both looking at me as if to say, "Don't ask." Finally, Kristy couldn't keep it in any longer, and she collapsed into a fit of laughter. I immediately got the picture, and joined right in. It took a good five minutes for us to calm down so they could finish the song.

This wasn't what any of us expected to happen, but at least no one got hurt, upset, or ran offstage in tears, so that was a good sign.

_Well, in the famous words of Colin Quinn, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. If I can find a way to get some comp tickets, I'll mail you a couple. Also, what I'd like to do is invite the whole family. I talked to Mom about it, and she said she'd see what she could do. But I really, REALLY want you to come. If you can't, I'll make sure to send you a program and a copy of the video._

_ Oh, on a more personal note, I really wish Dad was alive to see this play, because I think he'd really enjoy it. But I know he's up in heaven, watching over Mom, Anna, and me, and I guarantee you, he's damn proud of us._

_ Well, I'm getting ready to go to the Hobarts' for a sitting job, so I should go. Say hi to everybody for us, okay?_

_ Shalom, _

_ Abby_


	14. Chapter 13: Charlie

**CHAPTER 13: Charlie**

_ Hey, baby-sitters! Your loyal chauffeur here. In case you're wondering, I've been told that Jessi needs some notes for her journal about __Carnival__, so I figured, if I'm nice enough to give Kristy and Abby a ride to their meetings, then why not contribute here as well?_

_ I don't know about the rest of you, but I really wish I could forget today's rehearsal. Remember what Kristy said about the "calm before the storm"? Well, today was a lot of things, but calm definitely wasn't one of them. By the way, if I ever audition for another show, I'd like to be notified in advance of the possibility of using a live animal—not because some people are allergic, but because I thought for sure that someone was going to call Animal Control!_

I was at my locker after school, getting ready to go to SMS, when I saw my friend Jack Hanson. "Hey, Charlie, want to come over and play football?" he asked.

"Naw, I can't," I said, pulling on my SHS varsity jacket. "I have to go to SMS for a _Carnival _rehearsal."

He shook his head sympathetically. "I know what a pain that can be," he said. "When I played the Ghost of Christmas Present in _A Christmas Carol _at the Community Center, I had to go to rehearsal, too. You know, I'm still thankful for your little stepsister and her friend not tripping me when they were walking under my costume, and making all the way through without having a cerebral hemorrhage."

We laughed, then gave each other an arm-punch, which is how my sister Kristy hugs someone. I met Sam at the entrance, and we headed to SMS.

Now that I look back on today, I should've known that the _fantastic _rehearsal we'd had the day before was a fluke. It all started when I finally lost my muffler on the way out of the parking lot. I wasn't really that surprised, considering the condition of my car. You see, it's not called the Junk Bucket for nothing. Then there was the traffic jam we got caught in, thanks to some idiot who caused a wreck on the corner of Locust and Fawcett. Then, as if the fact that we were running late wasn't bad enough, the radio started playing, of all songs, "Anticipation" by Carly Simon. It was almost as if she were rubbing this whole situation in my face. Thanks a lot, Carly!

"Well, it could be worse, Charlie," Sam commented. "We could be listening to 'MmmBop'."

"Shut up," I grumbled. Just then, slowly but surely, the traffic started moving again, but that didn't do much to improve my mood.

I just knew that today's rehearsal was doomed.

When we arrived—with only two minutes to spare, surprisingly—the SMS kids were already there. Some were sitting and talking, some were doing homework, and some were going over their lines, especially Dawn. As the lead, she had the most lines, and took her role _very _seriously. I'm told that during _Peter Pan _rehearsals, she tried to modernize the script, and thought the whole thing was sexist. I'm happy to say that she hasn't tried doing that with this play.

Sam went off to find Stacey, like he usually does, and I sat down to go over my lines. I thought I had a lot in common with B.F. Schlegl, mostly the fact that he's loud, bossy, and overbearing. As much as I hate to admit it, I can be the same way myself, being the oldest in my family.

A little while later, Mr. Cheney and Mr. Drubek arrived, and rehearsal got underway. Ever since Mr. Cheney's lecture, rehearsals have pretty much been running more smoothly, and for the first time ever, everyone was off-book! It was also the first time we'd be using a real dog. The dog belonged to Lisa and Seth Engle, which are Karen and Andrew's mother and stepfather, her name was Midgie, and she was a mutt.

Now, from what Karen and Andrew have told me, Midgie is a very sweet, friendly dog, but to say that it was a little scary for her to be in a strange place and surrounded by all these people she's never seen before is an understatement. Any time anyone besides Karen or Nancy came near her, she'd bark at them nonstop. And I mean _really _loudly, like she's going to tear your arm off and beat you over the head with it. Even the little kids weren't immune to Midgie's fits.

The chain of unfortunate events started to unfold during "Direct From Vienna". While I was singing my part, I bent over forward to give Midgie her treat. Well, instead of taking it, she just went crazy, barking up a storm, then she ran around in circles, tying a very caught off-guard Karen up in the leash. Before Karen could get her hand free, Midgie was off and running, knocking that poor girl to the floor. Now that I think about it, I wish I'd just stayed out of it, because when I went to help Karen untangle herself, Midgie got the brilliant idea to run over to Abby. I guess she didn't know that Abby was allergic, but just the same, it sent Abby into a sneezing and wheezing fit. She pulled out her inhaler and took a quick puff. Meanwhile, Mr. Cheney tried to grab Midgie as she ran by him, but she wasn't stopping for anyone, not even the director. She even tried to bite him.

That was all Karen needed to see, and she knew that she had to put a stop to it. "MIDGIE!" she shouted. She lives life at the top of her lungs, as Mom would say. "YOU COME BACK HERE _RIGHT NOW!" _That got the dog's attention in one second flat, and she walked back to Karen with her tail between her legs.

Karen had gotten Midgie under control, but that didn't mean we weren't without further problems. Let's see: Shannon got a splinter in her right foot during the last part of "Direct From Vienna"; after "Very Nice Man", Jimmy Bouloukos got a little too—what's the word?...overzealous in his scene with Dawn, and she punched him in the stomach; Jackie Rodowsky's left shoe flew off during "Sword, Rose & Cape" and landed in Ms. Halliday's lap; Miranda Shillaber couldn't stop sneezing during the "Carnival Ballet"; David Michael kept dropping his harmonica during the Dr. Glass scene; Karen got into a shoving match backstage with Pamela Harding after Pamela called her a really dirty name; Abby kept grumbling about Midgie—and in Yiddish, I might add; Jason was just getting over a cold, so his Marguerite voice made him cough up a storm; and Mal, God bless her, just kept trying to keep everyone's spirits up. If I were her, I wouldn't have bothered, because nobody was feeling any better. The only good thing about today was that Karen had the presence of mind to take Midgie out whenever nature called, because I'm sure the last thing Mr. Cheney would've wanted was a lot of dog piss or crap to clean up.

At any rate, for the rest of rehearsal, Mr. Cheney looked like he was going to have a nervous breakdown.


	15. Chapter 14: Mallory

**CHAPTER 14: Mallory**

**TO: Gillian Orton**

**FROM: Mallory Pike**

**RE: What I've Been Up To**

**Dear Peter and Gillian:**

** Greetings from America! How are you? I've been doing all right. Oh, I just heard about Gillian having another baby in a few months. I also heard she's having a girl, and you're still kind of unsure about a name. Well, I've been thinking about that, too, and I think Sara would be a perfect name. You know, after Sara Crewe from ****A Little Princess****? Also, just between the three of us, I'd just like to say thank you so, so much for wanting me to be your baby's godmother. That really meant the world to me.**

** Did Mom or I tell you that my school's doing ****Carnival****? Well, it's based on this movie called ****Lili****, and there are quite a few differences. For example, there's more than one song in ****Carnival****, because it's a musical, whereas ****Lili**** just has the one song in it. Another difference is that it's not only more enjoyable to watch, but also, one of the puppets is different. In the movie, there's a clown, a giant, a snobby rich lady, and a fox. In the play, there's a walrus instead of a giant. I hope you'll be able to come, even though I'm the assistant director.**

** The show opens in two weeks, but I'm still hoping you'll come. Today's rehearsal was, for several reasons, among the forgettable rehearsals for this show...**

One word: horrible.

If you were to ask me to describe today's rehearsal, that would pretty much sum it up, but believe it or not, it actually didn't start out that way. It started off pretty normally. Everybody was off-book, Midgie was behaving herself, Logan and Sam were acting their age, Dawn wasn't trying to change her lines—you get the idea, right?

"This is going pretty well, huh?" I asked Mr. Cheney.

"Mm-hm," he said tentatively. In the back of my mind, I wondered why he'd said it that way. As it turned out, I didn't have to wonder for long.

"Mallory, could you get me a coffee, please?" Mr. Cheney asked, handing me a dollar.

"Sure," I answered. On my way out of the auditorium, I happened to catch a bit of Jessi's contortionist act, and she was doing a great job, even though one of her dreadlocks was coming undone.

_Watch out, Jess! _I silently warned her, but when she was touching the top of her head with her toes, she accidentally caught her hair scrunchie in her foot and pulled it right out of her hair! When she realized what happened, she frantically tried to put it back in her hair and continue her act at the same time, but in the process, she tripped over her own foot and fell toward Dawn. Luckily, Dawn was able to catch her, even though she ended up dropping her sign into the orchestra pit. It landed on Anna's lap, and she was having a hard time moving it out of the way while trying to stay with the beat.

While this was going on, Ricky Torres, Hannie Papadakis, and Nancy Dawes were walking around in front of the orchestra pit and saying their lines, like they were supposed to. Unfortunately, Ricky had his own idea for how to say his lines.

"Get-your-sou-ve-nirs!" he announced. "Get-your ve-ry-own sou-ve-nirs from B-F Schle-gl's Grand Im-per-i-al Cirque-de-Pa-ris!" He actually sounded a little like Howard Cossell, someone I didn't think any of us kids knew or even heard of, least of all Ricky. (Also, I could be wrong, but I think I saw him shake his head a little.)

Naturally, everyone backstage practically gave themselves hernias from laughing so hard. I would've joined right in, but instead, I looked over at Mr. Cheney. He was sitting in the front row with his head in his hands. I could tell that he had that gut-feeling that the worst was yet to come, which, of course, it did.

A little while later, after we got through "Magic, Magic" and "Kommen", we started on the "Carnival Ballet". In this number, everyone is frozen onstage, and Dawn comes out and looks around, then sees Jessi spinning from a rope. That was a real surprise, considering the fact that Mr. Cheney _absolutely refused _to use flying ropes during _Peter Pan. _To this day, I can still see Jackie Rodowsky trying to jump off the dresser and almost turning himself into a quadriplegic.

Anyway, Linny was supposed to give Jessi a push to start her off, but this time, he pushed her a little too hard. And somehow, her dreadlocks managed to come undone again.

"Lin-_neeee!" _she cried. When Linny realized his mistake, he frantically tried to stop Jessi from spinning, but she smacked right into him, sending him into Bart, who fell against Kristy and basically made the Bluebird Girls into dominoes. If that wasn't bad enough, Rosie Wilder banged her elbow when she fell, and Midgie's tail happened to be right in the way, too This scared that poor little mutt out of her mind, and once again, she took off running. Only this time, after yanking Karen over in the process for the second time, she ran straight to the orchestra pit and into some seventh-grade trumpet player, knocking him forward. This poor guy, whoever he was, managed to cut his lip on the top of his music stand.

Well, folks, this was when we all could tell that Mr. Cheney was at the end of his rope, no pun intended. "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! What is this? _What is going on here!" _he shouted. "We've got a bleeding trumpet player, and once again, a hysterical dog! Linny, get up and stop Jessi from spinning! In case some of you have forgotten, we happen to be opening in two weeks! TWO WEEKS! Doesn't that mean anything to any of you? I mean, I'm sweating bullets here! And is it too much to ask that you be here on time? Maybe it _is _too much to ask! Why should any of you be here on time? Hell, for that matter, why should any of you be here at all? That does it, the play's off!"

Everyone in the auditorium gasped, then just stood there, staring at him. _Check, please, _I thought. (Also, I could be wrong, but I think I heard Abby whispering to Barbara Hirsch, "I'm not shouting! All right, I am! I'm shouting! I'm shouting! I'm shou—bonk!" Barbara managed to stifle her giggles.)

"Well, get to work!" Mr. Cheney bellowed as he started up the aisle. "Cheese and crackers, look at those booths! And have you gone over 'Yum Ticky' yet? _Noooo, _of course not! Leave it to Mr. Cheney, just like always! I have to do everything around here! Apparently, no one cares what happens to this show, but me! We'll have to call the papers and tell them we're not going to open on time! At this rate, it'll be summer by then! Oh, God, I need a Tums. Mallory, where's my coffee! And who put the gum under my desk!"

After Mr. Cheney finished ranting and raving, he stormed the rest of the way up the aisle and out into the hall. I can still hear the hollow thud of the door echoing throughout the auditorium as he slammed it.

For a moment, nobody said a word. Honestly, I'd never heard such a deafening silence in my life.

"Cheese and crackers?" a thoroughly puzzled Karen asked.

"It's just an expression, Karen," Kristy explained.

"Maybe he's hungry," Linny suggested.

"Okay, you heard the man!" I said, trying to get everyone back to what we were doing. After all, I was the assistant director, right? "Let's go, let's go! Move it, move it, move it! Now, Dasher! Now, Prancer!"

Everyone was clearly struggling not to laugh, but when they saw me glaring—and I hardly ever do that, except at my own siblings—they shaped right up and continued as if nothing had happened.

Rehearsal continued without further incident, but I was still pretty upset. In fact, when I got home, the first thing my siblings noticed was the look on my face.

"What happened, Mal?" Byron asked.

"Byron, you don't want to know," I sighed in disgust.

"Are you going on strike again, Mallory-silly-billy-goo-goo?" Claired asked worriedly. Apparently, she was remembering the time I had a story to write for Young Authors' Day, and how nobody would leave me the hell alone so I could work on it.

"No, I'm not," I reassured her. "I've just had a long day today."

"Can we get you anything to cheer you up?" Nicky asked.

"Thanks, Nicky, but all I really want is just ten minutes of peace and quiet," I answered. "That means no fighting, no asking me for favors, and NO BIZZER SIGN. You hear me?"

I guess I sounded pretty agitated, because the next thing I saw was seven heads nodding in unison, and then they left the den in record time.

I pulled the desk chair up and sat down at the computer. It was time to drop a line to England. Hopefully, talking to Mom's favorite cousin and her family would help me get my mind off today's mess of a rehearsal.

**Well, I think it's safe to say that today's rehearsal went down as one of the worst in the history of show rehearsals. After what happened today, I really hope that things will get better. Since it's going to be videotaped, and I intend to send you a copy, they have to get better. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.**

** Well, I'd better get ready for bed now. Take care of yourselves, and tell the boys I said hi, okay?**

** Your cousin,**

** Mallory**


	16. Chapter 15: Kristy

**CHAPTER 15: Kristy**

_ I'm still reeling from Mr. Cheney's blow-up the other day. I was also a little angry with him, but on the other hand, I couldn't really blame him. I mean, if the events that happened at rehearsal the other day happened if I were sitting in the director's chair (no, not Claudia's), I'd fly off the handle, too. Thankfully, he didn't mean what he said, and we were able to shake it off and move on. Also, today, I happened to see a new side of Mal, one I never knew existed until now. I think I just may have more respect for her than I used to. For those of you who weren't actually there, I'll fill you in on the details at the next meeting..._

The following Monday duirng school, Mary Anne and I were playing volleyball in gym class. Normally, being the sports junkie that I am, gym is my absolute-favorite class. Today, though, I couldn't really concentrate on the game. In fact, the ball just bounced off my head when Dorianne Wallingford spiked it to me. (Can you say _Meet The Parents_?)

"Hey, Thomas!" Mrs. Rosenauer boomed in her _extremely _thick Boston accent. "Can we put a lid on the daydreaming here?"

_Oh, shut up, you genetic freak, _I thought. If there was ever an award for Teacher Most Likely To Test Positive For Steroids, she'd be a shoe-in. But like I said, I was having trouble focusing, so maybe hearing her chew me out helped me a little.

Later that day at rehearsal, I walked in to find everyone looking extremely cautious. Apparently, Mr. Cheney's blow-up had quite an effect, even more than when Stacey had hers. Part of what made it so shocking was his threat to cancel the play.

At that moment, the little kids started arriving. Normally, they make a lot of noise, but today, they were as quiet as Quakers at a meeting. Oh, that reminds me. Sometimes if the kids I'm sitting for get too noisy, I can usually quiet them down by playing "Quakers' Meeting". That has a little rhyme that starts off the game with, "Quakers' Meeting has begun. No more laughing, no more fun. If you dare to crack a smile, then you'll have to walk a mile." (Don't ask me what that last part means, it's just part of the rhyme.) Mom taught it to me and my older brothers when we were younger. She said that when she and her sisters were kids, Nannie used to have them play it to keep them quiet. It usually works, because the kids are quiet in a second, and they're usually quiet until either meal time, or when the parents come home. The last time I had to resort to playing it was when I baby-sat for the Newtons' cousins, the Feldmans. I liked it a lot better than having to whistle through my fingers to get their attention.

Okay, back to rehearsal. Instead of making a beeline for Jason like she usually does, Karen walked up and sat down beside me. The whole time, she never looked in my direction. I felt really bad for her. "Hi, Karen," I said softly. I knew exactly how she felt.

"Hi," she mumbled.

"How are you, kid?"

"Fine," she answered. I put my arm around her, because I knew perfectly well that she wasn't fine.

"Hey," I said. "It's all right. You know the show's still on, don't you? Mr. Cheney didn't mean what he said. He was just blowing off steam."

Karen nodded, then scooted closer to me. She wasn't crying yet, but she was pretty close. I hadn't seen her this upset since Nannie was in the hospital after she broke her hip.

Just then, Mr. Cheney and Mr. Drubek came in. All the other kids were still a little wary, but when I saw Mr. Cheney, I was furious. On the one hand, I could understand why he was upset, but that was no excuse for threatening to cancel the play. After all, we'd worked our tails off. To be perfectly honest with you, as soon as I saw Mr. Cheney, I just wanted to jump up and wring his neck.

"Before we get started today," he began, "I just wanted to apologize for flying off the handle the other day. I was just upset because Jessi's act was unraveling, and people were pretty much falling all over themselves, but that still doesn't give me the right to say what I said. If I've upset anyone in any way—and judging by the looks on your faces, I can tell that I have—I'm truly, truly sorry, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart."

When Mr. Cheney said that, there was a communal sigh of relief. Afterwards, it was business as usual.

The next morning, Mary Anne and I were on our way inside when we saw Mal standing by the front door. "Hi," I called, waving to her.

"Hey, you guys," she said. She seemed to be in a pretty good mood. "I'm just waiting for Jessi. You know, I think yesterday's rehearsal went pretty well, didn't it?"

"Yeah, I suppose," I admitted. "I'm just glad Mr. Cheney came to his senses and apologized."

Mary Anne nodded in agreement. "After he blew up like that, I was starting to worry that he was actually serious about canceling the play. You know what Logan told me? He told me that Mr. Cheney looked like he really needed a vacation."

"I'll talk to Watson and see what I can work out," I joked. The others got a good laugh.

Just then, we looked up to see Cokie Mason walking by. I swear, if that girl keeps her nose in the air much longer, she'll either drown when it starts raining, or a bee will find its way up there, both of which I'd laugh at if it ever happened. (Anyone know how to cast a voodoo spell?)

"Do you _mind?" _she said condescendingly. _"Some _of us are trying to get in the building."

"And you're actually _one _of them?" I asked in mock-surprise. "I always thought your biggest challenge in school was deciding which flavor of lip-gloss to wear. Have you tried the raw sewage kind? I hear it's simply ravishing."

"Shove it, Kristin," she snapped. Then, turning to Mal, she added, "And thaks for telling Mr. Cheney not to let me be in the play."

You know what? As soon as those words came out of Cokie's mouth, Mal got a look on her face that we'd never seen before. Her eyes widened to the point where I could see the insides of her eyelids, her jaw clenched, and her face turned two or three shades darker than her hair. She slowly advanced toward Cokie, until she was right in her face. Out of the corner of my eye, I looked at Mary Anne, who was just as surprised as I was.

"You listen to me, you plastic bitch!" Mal exploded. "I had nothing to do with you not being in the play! In fact, if you _were_ in it, I would've made damn sure that Mr. Cheney threw you out after the first week! You know, if you spent a little more time on schoolwork, and a _lot _less time trying to impress people—and failing miserably at _that, _I might add—you just might be a little better off. So get off your high horse, take my advice, and grow the hell up!"

WHOA. None of us could believe what had just happened. I, for one, had been wanting to tell Clairol-for-Brains that for years, and Mal had done it. Yes, folks, level-headed, soft-spoken little Mallory, who would very seldom stand up for herself, if at all, had actually put Cokie in her place.

After Mal finished saying her piece, as Watson would put it, Cokie, who was completely at a loss for words, backed off and went inside.

"All _right!" _Mary Anne and I exclaimed, giving her high-fives.

"Mallory Pike, I am _damn _proud of you," I grinned. "I'll bet that was therapeutic, huh?"

"Definitely," Mal agreed, much, MUCH calmer than before. That's when Jessi arrived, and the four of us went into the school.

I don't know why, but I had the strangest feeling that from that point on, rehearsals were going to be just fine.


	17. Chapter 16: Bebe

A/N: In case you're wondering, my aunt used to have me and my cousins play "Quakers' Meeting" when we were kids.

**CHAPTER 16: Bebe**

_ Well, opening night is just four days away. God, I can't wait! I, for one, think that rehearsals have been running more smoothly this past week. And you know something? Out of all the teachers I've had over the past few years, I don't think I've seen any of them get as fired up as Mr. Cheney was that one day. I'm just glad Kristy and some of the other __Peter Pan__ cast members had warned me about that. On the upside, I'm told that show did very well, and I think that this show will, too..._

It was now Monday of production week. A week and a half had passed since Mr. Cheney's blow-up, and a week since his apology. Like I'd said in my journal entry, rehearsals since then had been going very well.

When DM and I got off the bus, Kristy was waiting for us. They headed toward their house, and I headed toward the apartment complex. We had to be back at school in a couple of hours. "See you guys later," I called out.

"See you, Bebe," Kristy called.

"Oh, DM? Great job with your accent," I said.

"Thanks, Bebe," he called.

When I got home, I grabbed a banana from the kitchen, went to my room, and dumped my stuff on the floor. Fortunately, I didn't have any homework, so I had some time to myself for once. I put on my Rush CD and settled back on my bed, just losing myself in the guitars, drums, and Geddy Lee's amazingly high voice. _I _can't even hit some of those notes, and I'm a girl! Why these guys aren't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yet, search me.

An hour and a half later, I heard Daddy call, "Bebe, it's time to go!"

"Coming, Daddy!" I answered, grabbing my jacket and heading for the door. Since this was the first night of tech week, I wasn't sure what to expect from this point on.

That evening at rehearsal, Mallory and Savannah handed out our costumes. The only ones who had to have special costumes made were Shannon, Stacey, Marilyn, the clowns/vendors, Dawn (when she was a sign girl), Sam, the Bluebird Girls, and the Shillaber twins. The rest of the costumes were rented from a costume shop in Stamford.

"Now, we expect you to take really good care of these," Savannah was saying. "Don't get them dirty or lose any parts of them. Also, whenever you're not wearing them, whatever you do, _do not _leave them lying around. You _must _hang them up, especially anything made of satin. There are designated areas in the dressing rooms where you can hang them."

The Bluebird Girls' costumes were really pretty. They were basically these light blue leotards with white and gold sequins sewn on them, navy blue chiffon miniskirts, and white headbands with three blue feathers glued on them. Also, the Bluebird Girls, Jessi, and Shannon were told way ahead of time that we'd be performing barefoot. At first, it was freezing, but we soon got used to it. I, for one, was already pretty used to it, because with apartment being so warm, I never wear shoes.

Tonight's rehearsal went pretty well, even though it was our first time to be working with the lights. I think all of us expected them to distract us (I know I did), especially during "Kommen", but we didn't miss a beat. If only we knew what the words to the song meant, eh!

That night after we got home, I decided to take a bubble bath. My muscles were a little stiff from all the dancing, and I've heard a lot of people say that warm water's supposed to help, and believe me, it did. By the way, here's a little tip: if you want to relieve sore, aching muscles, you can't go wrong with lavender bubble bath.

While I was in the tub, I went over the steps to "Kommen" in my head. We'd been working on this particular song quite a bit. In fact, we made up this one step where Pamela Harding and I leapfrog over Rosie Wilder and Kerry Bruno, who's happens to be my best friend, and land facing each other, while Kristy Thomas, who's in the middle, does a cartwheel. That step was the hardest, and the first time we tried it, Pamela and I literally banged our heads together when we landed, sandwiching poor Kristy right in the middle of us! Fortunately, Kristy wasn't too upset with us, and still gets a good laugh about it.

After my bath, I put on my nightgown and went back to my room to brush my hair. Just as I was finishing, I heard a whistle and a voice call, "Hey, Bebe!"

I turned around and saw Carrot Top behind the headboard on my bed. I was a little surprised, but I also knew it was Jason. I mean, who else would it be, right?. But I decided to play along anyway. "Hi, Carrot Top," I said. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm doing all right," Carrot Top said. "Tonight's rehearsal went pretty well, didn't it?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "I think Mr. Cheney seems much calmer compared to last week, don't you?"

"Oh, definitely," Carrot Top agreed.

"Jason's doing a great job," I said. "And have you noticed how Karen's always hanging around him?"

"Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah, she just loves him to bits. By the way, don't tell Karen I said this, but I think Claudia likes him."

"Wow, I didn't know that!" And that was _not _Carrot Top's voice! I yanked the puppet off Jason's hand, and he came up from behind the bed, smiling and laughing his head off.

"Fooled you pretty good, yes?"

"I've never been so insulted in my life!" I exclaimed, beating Jason over the head with the puppet. All the while, Jason held his hands up in front of his face and continued laughing. Of course, I wasn't really mad, not even close.

"Oh, you have, too, and you know it!" Jason laughed as he sat down beside me.

"Okay, you want to settle this the way we used to? Fine." Then I said in a sing-song voice, _"I'm telling your mo-om, I'm telling your mo-om!"_

_ "See if I even ca-are, see if I even ca-are," _he sang back.

"Oh, and by the way, Jason," I said, "I knew it was you the whole time."

I should've taken off running, but I never got the chance, because the next thing he did was grab me by the ankles and tickle my feet. I was laughing so hard, it's a wonder I didn't fall off the bed.

Brothers can be such a pain, blood-related or not.


	18. Chapter 17: Stacey

**CHAPTER 17: Stacey**

_Dear Mr. and Mrs. Walker,_

_ Hi, you guys! How have you been? I've been doing all right. SMS' production of __Carnival__ opens tonight. I wish you guys could come see it. It's going to be such a good show. Oh, remember that weekend when you took Dad and me to see that show at the Biltmore Theatre, off-Broadway? The one thing I remember saying to you is, "Someday, we'll be doing that show in Stoneybrook." And lo and behold!_

_ Anyway, like I said, I wish you could come see it. I'm guessing the people at the Fitzroy didn't plan on your art show being the same weekend, either, did they? Oh, well. That's life, I guess. The next time I come to New York, which will be when we have our spring break, I'll bring my copy of the video for Henry and Grace to watch..._

It was now Friday morning. Our final dress rehearsal would be at 1:00 that afternoon. We would be performing in the auditorium at SES.

The day before, we'd been told to bring our lunches, and everyone involved with the show would eat during the sixth-grade lunch period. Aside from school assemblies, that would be the only time the entire BSC would be together. Normally, each grade has a different lunch period, and we don't get to see each other.

By the way, I know this is going to sound totally cliché, but I'll say it. The worst had already happened. Now, things can only get better.

At 11:30 on the dot, all of us were backstage getting into our costumes. My first costume was a royal-purple knee-length dress with black fishnet tights, which I had a _horrible _time trying to put on, and black character shoes. As crowded and noisy as it was backstage, I was surprised I could still keep my train of thought.

In the make-up room, I found a seat beside Sam while Kristy was helping him with his make-up. I also overheard him saying, "Okay, let's go over the midlife crisis checklist. I've got the sports car collection, the yacht, the botox, the Members Only jacket, the Grey Poupon, the sushi bar, the half-million dollars' worth of bling, the lifetime subscription to _Penthouse—_hmm, what else?"

"You forgot the Just for Men," Kristy laughed.

"Yeah, that, too," Sam agreed.

After Kristy was done with that, she went over to one of the couches to take a break. "Okay, Stace, how do I look?" Sam asked. "I can take it."

I looked. Kristy had done a great job making those age lines, because Sam really did look 30 years older than he really was. And kudos on the white hairspray at the temples. "You look great!" I exclaimed.

"Thanks, babe," he smiled. "So do you."

Oh, brother. Well, at least he didn't call me "Rosalie darling."

When I came out of the make-up room, I saw Mary Anne talking to Jackie, reminding him not to ad-lib or change his lines in any way, or do anything similar to what he did during the final dress rehearsal for _Peter Pan. _You see, what he'd done was throw foam rocks at Pete Black when he was in the crocodile costume, and yell "Cowabunga!" and "Crocabunga!", which got him a lecture from both Mr. Cheney and Mary Anne. And—I am dead serious—I heard her say to him, "This is _not _Burger King, and you can't have it your way."

_I couldn't have said it any better myself, _I thought. I really hoped Jackie would listen to her, because the last thing we needed was another lecture from Mr. Cheney.

The next thing I saw was Pamela Harding running frantically all over the place. I could tell that she'd lost something. "What are you looking for, honey?" I asked.

"My headband," she said. "I can't find it anywhere."

"Well, let's start looking. Where do you think you last saw it?"

"The bathroom."

"Well, let's start there." We looked all over the girls' room, but didn't see it anywhere. Just as we came out, Abby came out of the make-up room, and she had the headband with her.

"Here it is!" she announced, holding it up. Then she sniffed it and said, "It's no big deal." Fortunately, I grabbed it away from her before she could pretend to take a bite out of it. As I handed it to a giggling Pamela, I thought, _Girl, you've seen __Caddyshack__ WAY too many times!_

The dress rehearsal started off pretty well. When I made my first entrance, after Charlie shouted, "Where's Rosalie?", I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw what Karen's costume looked like. It was a red and white satin jumpsuit with three pink Koosh balls sewn down the front, a red puffy collar, pink ballet slippers, and a red beret. What really grabbed me, though, was her make-up. Her face was painted white, her lips were bright red, and she had a black star over one eye. You know, like Paul Stanley from KISS. I assumed that Jason had done her make-up, with him being a KISS fan and all.

Well, I couldn't look at Karen for much longer, because I had to, as Charlie said, "let them know that B.F. Schlegl's Grand Imperial Cirque de Paris had come to town," so that's just what I did. I sang the opening lines of "Direct From Vienna" in the same sarcastic tone of voice I'd always used. And when the others joined in, they sang it the same way I was singing it. When it got to the line that goes, _"Come on, mortgage your house or sell your cow..." _I happened to look downstage left and saw Jeff Atkinson pretending to smoke a candy cigarette. Right away, I knew it was fake, because Claud sometimes has those at our meetings. I just hoped the audience knew it, too, and also that Mr. Cheney wouldn't have any objections.

We didn't have any mishaps until "Sword, Rose & Cape". I was offstage in the wings, getting ready for my entrance for my scene with Natalie Springer, and watching the number, when it happened. Jackie was whooping it up with the other Roustabouts and just having a ball, when all of a sudden, he tripped over his own foot. He put his arms to try to regain his balance, accidentally slapped Logan in the mouth, and fell right on his face.

_Oh, shit, _I thought in chagrin as I hid my face behind my hand. But then, he bounced right back up like a tennis ball. I don't think he even noticed that his chin was bleeding, but I did. Hell, even Stevie Wonder could've noticed that. Luckily, it wasn't a very bad cut.

When we got to "Magic, Magic", I was literally praying that Dawn would be able to keep a straight face. I think Dawn was, too, because when she wasn't saying her lines, she had this huge, dorky grin on her face. Then I heard a kid in the front row whispering, "This is Bob. Bob is going to kill whoever invented this product if he ever finds him. Side-effects may include grinning like an idiot 24 hours a day."

"Shh!" another voice whispered. I immediately recognized the voice as Charlotte's, and sure enough, when I looked out into the audience, I happened to catch a glimpse of her in the front row on the left side, giving me the thumbs-up sign, along with her signature dimpled smile.

While the Bluebird Girls were out in front of the curtain doing "Kommen", the rest of us were getting ready for the "Carnival Ballet". And, I'm not too sure, but I think I heard Jessi whisper fiercely to Linny, "Don't spin me too hard!" After what happened a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't really blame her.

Well, we got through the first act, and there was no sign of Mr. Cheney coming backstage to give anyone a tongue-lashing, so except for Jackie's fall (I later found out that he'd lost another baby tooth), so it must have gone pretty well.

The only perk in Act Two was when Bart was playing Dr. Glass. It started with David Michael sitting on one of the stools and playing a bluesy rendition of the _I Love Lucy _theme on his harmonica. Oh, I don't mean to get off the subject here, but Mom once told me that she and Dad liked the episode where Lucy poses as the Maharincess of Franistan. Anyway, all was going well until David Michael said the "'Aay, Rosalie!" line. Needless to say, it got more than a few laughs, especially from the little kids.

_Stay in character, David Michael, _I silently pleaded. _Whatever you do, you stay in character! _Apparently, my telepathy, if there is such a thing, worked, because David Michael just sucked it up and pressed on.

Finally, we got to "Always, Always You". In this number, Rosalie is encased in a wooden box, and Marco is putting swords through the box. I'd never seen or heard of that trick until I saw the off-Broadway productionin New York, and from then on, just the idea of all those swords scared the bejesus out of me. But this time, I wasn't scared at all. In fact, I was so used to it by now, I didn't even close my eyes. Go figure!

After rehearsal ended, Mr. Cheney asked us to assemble in front of the stage to greet the kids. Margo Pike and another girl I didn't know were swooning over Jackie and David Michael, even though both of them had their signature "Eww, girls!" looks on their faces.

I would've started teasing them, but I never got the chance. Because the next thing I knew, Charlotte had run up and thrown her arms around my waist, just like Karen always does to Jason. The only difference is, she's not strong enough to knock me over.

"You were great, Stacey!" she cried.

"Thanks, kiddo," I grinned. "And thanks for telling that kid to be quiet."

"Oh, you mean Jerry Haney?" Charlotte asked. "Or, as I like to call him, Jerry the Jerk."

Even though we Baby-sitters always tell the kids we sit for that it isn't nice to call others names, even I had to laugh.

Well, to make a long story short (Okay, all together now: "TOO LATE!"), the rest of that dress rehearsal was great. When I passed Karen on my way back to the dressing room, I said, "Great job, kid. I loved your costume."

"Thanks," she smiled. "Mommy had a hard time sewing the balls on the costume, though."

"She did a great job," I answered. Then I headed upstairs to change out of my costume.

Anyway, I was pleased with the outcome, and I couldn't wait to get home and tell Mom how it went, and I was definitely going to call Dad and remind him about the show. If I know him, he's never broken a promise, so I was all right.

_Well, I should be getting ready to go back to school for opening night. I wish you lots of luck with your show, say hi to Henry and Grace for me, and I'll see you over spring break._

_ Yours truly,_

_ Stacey_


	19. Chapter 18: Jason

A/N: In keeping with the tradition of Starring the BSC, I'm having each character that narrates a chapter dealing with the opening night performance describe the events of the evening from the moment they get home from school.

**CHAPTER 18: Jason**

_Dear Alex and Alissa,_

_ Hi! How are two of my favourite cousins? I've been doing all right. Oh, did you tell your parents that tonight was opening night for my school's production of __Carnival__? I'm sorry you guys couldn't come, but I understand completely about Alex's softball game. I just wish they weren't on the same weekend, because I think you'd really enjoy it. But don't worry. I've ordered two copies of the video, one for my family, and one for you guys. I just wish my real dad and Granny were alive to see this, because I think they'd really enjoy it..._

I arrived home after the final dress rehearsal on Friday afternoon. I thought it had gone really well, with the exception of Jackie Rodowsky's fall, which resulted in him losing another baby tooth. For once, I didn't have any weekend homework, so I decided to go over my lines, and my mind began to wander.

First, I remembered the day that Stacey had her blow-up, which led to Mr. Cheney's lecture. I don't know about anybody else, but I never imagined a pretty, sophisticated girl like Stacey McGill being capable of using such language. When I checked with her later, she seemed all right, but I was still a little wary. After all, as the male lead, I felt that it was my responsibility to check on my fellow castmates.

Next, I remembered the day, just a couple of weeks ago, that Mr. Cheney had _his _blow-up, and threatened to cancel the whole play. That really pissed me off big-time, because I, for one, had been working really hard, and had gotten into my part.

Finally, I remembered the other night when I teased Bebe with the Carrot Top puppet. I had no idea she'd fall for it. Actually, she'd told me that she knew it was me, but she's over that now. Until then, I had no idea that Claudia Kishi liked me.

What do you know?

Well, that night was opening night. This time, it was the real thing. All those memories of the problems we'd had were now a distant memory, and best of all, there were no on-set accidents, like light bars falling and hitting people on the head, or ladders falling over when someone was on them. Backstage wasn't as crowded as it had been that afternoon, but it was still pretty noisy. Mr. Cheney was running around like a dog chasing its tail, making sure everything was in place. And I'll tell you, for a man his size, he's pretty fast.

"Full house, kids!" he said ecstatically. "Now, remember to be quiet backstage, keep Midgie under control, and most important of all, PROJECT!"

After Mr. Cheney left, I decided to get a snack, so I went out into the hall to get a bag of ranch crisps and a bottle of water. When I got there, Dawn was getting some peanut butter crackers. "Hey, Dawn," I said.

"Hey," she answered. "I learned my lesson last time, so I'm preparing myself now."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, the silliest thing happened last year," she answered. "On opening night of _Peter Pan, _I ate breakfast, but skipped lunch, and almost got sick."

"Oh, bet that was fun," I cringed.

"I'll say. I'm just glad Kristy talked Mary Anne into getting me a snack, so I'm just preparing myself so it doesn't happen again."

"Good idea," I said.

"Well, see you later," Dawn said as she unwrapped her crackers and walked away.

"See you," I answered. As I made my selection on the machine, I happened to glance over my shoulder and see Claudia head for the choir room to help Hannie with her make-up. Like me, she was also dressed all in black (Claud, not Hannie). Well, mostly all in black. She had on this short-sleeved bowling shirt with pink, yellow, orange; and green sparkle-paint designs around the collar. I couldn't help smiling and shaking my head. If I know Claud, she never sticks with just one color!

When I returned to the backstage area, I picked up one of the programs and headed to the couch. As I looked at the program and ate my snack, I remembered Kristy telling me something about how, in some programs, the easiest words in the world still manage to get misspelled. I expected to find my name among those words, and I'm happy to say that it wasn't. Apparently, every word in that program had been carefully spellchecked, because there weren't any errors.

I'd just thrown away the water bottle when Karen came bouncing up. I offered her the last of my crisps as she plopped down beside me. "Hi, Jason," she said, taking a handful and wolfing them down. She must've been starved.

"Hey," I answered as I crumpled up the bag and threw it in the bin beside me. "All set?"

"Oh, yeah," she answered. "Thanks for helping me with my make-up."

"No problem," I said, patting her knee.

"Nervous?"

"Well, a little. I've never been onstage before, except for church pageants when I was a kid."

"You'll do fine," she said reassuringly. "You've been doing a great job at rehearsals. You're going to knock 'em dead. Oh, and Jason? No matter what happens tonight, I just want you to know that I'm so proud of you."

You know what? As soon as Karen said that, I can quite honestly say that my heart just melted. "Thanks, honey," I smiled. I gave her a hug, being careful not to get make-up on my shirt.

"Places!" Mary Anne called. I got a paper towel and wiped the crumbs off my hands as Karen stood up.

"Well, break a leg, Jason," Karen said, patting my face just underneath my scar.

"You, too," I said.

In the famous words of Roy Scheider, it's showtime, folks!

The show got off to a great start. The first few musical numbers were the best they'd ever been, even though Jimmy Bouloukos ad-libbed his line at the end of "Very Nice Man". The line goes, "I'm a very nice man with a very nice face," but the next thing out of his mouth was, "'Snot all that's very nice, honey!" I just hope Mr. Cheney doesn't want to wring his neck after the show. On the upside, he didn't get carried away with what happened next, after what Dawn told me. Now, don't get me wrong—Dawn Schafer is a very lovely girl, and we're all crazy about her; but if you say or do the wrong thing around her, watch out!

Anyway, we had Mr. Drubek to thank for the music. In fact, while I was singing "I've Got To Find A Reason", I happened to look over and see Mum and Steve sitting in the fourth row on the right side of the auditorium. (I'm surprised I could see, considering how bright the lights were.) Mum was practically moved to tears by the last line of the song, _"Something to want, something to be, somehow to say, 'I am me'," _and—I kid you not—I saw her take hold of her crucifix and cross herself. When I said my "Go back to your Mira" line, I saw Karen beaming at me as she made her way onstage for the scene where the parade returns. She was pretty impressed.

The next song I did was "Everybody Likes You", which I actually sing to the Carrot Top puppet. I felt that it was a song I could relate to, because it reminded me so much of my childhood, how I never knew my real dad, and what happened on my first day at SMS. (Okay, cue the clip show here!) I also hoped that after my performance, the other kids would be more accepting of me. Jessi Ramsey once told me that she'd endured the same thing, and hoped her performance in the Leicester Lodge talent show would have the same effect. I don't know if it did, because she never told me.

The first act ended with "Love Makes The World Go 'Round". Dawn has _the _most beautiful voice I'd ever heard. I also wouldn't be surprised if she made even the harshest critic break down and bawl.

After Sam said his last line of Act One, I came out from behind the puppet booth and picked up Carrot Top. Almost immediately, I thought of my real dad, and wondered what he would've thought of this show.

I think he'd be proud of me.

_Well, there you have it. My stage debut. Don't worry, like I said, I'll send you guys the video. Tell your parents I said hi, and best of luck with your game._

_ Tell Alex I said to go out there and win one for the Gipper!_

_ Your cousin,_

_ Jason_


	20. Chapter 19: Claudia

**CHAPTER 19: Claudia**

_ "Overchur, curtin lights, this is it, the night of nights!" I can't believe it myself. We're opening tonight. And you guys thought we'd never make it, espeshully after Mr. Chaney's blow-up a couple of weaks ago. Well, here we are, so now we can relax and enjoy the show._

_ By the way, Kristy, sorry for geting off the the subject, but remember when Jason and T-Jam allmost got into a fight during lunch? Well, I hope you can see that's all anshunt hisstory, because tonite, I saw a new side of Jason, one I never new exzisted, and that's all I'm saying about it. I'll fill you in on the details at the next meeting..._

When I got home from school, I dumped my stuff on the floor and went into the closet for a Sno-Ball. (I told you I was a junk-food junkie, didn't I?) While I unwrapped it, I looked over at the portrait of Mimi that I'd painted when I was in seventh grade. Before I had to repeat it, that is.

"Hi, Mimi," I said, taking a bite of my treat. "How have you been? Well, we open tonight. The set looks fantastic, everybody loves the puppets, and if there was enough space in my room, I'd bring the puppet booth home with me. I wonder how many Klondike bars I'd have to bribe Mr. Cheney with to let me?

"Well, wish us luck tonight, Mimi. Mom and Dad, Janine, Russ, and Peaches will be there, but Lynn—you know, their baby—will be with a baby-sitter. I know I can count on you being there, too...I love you."

I finished my treat, then smiled up at the portrait. I really did hope that her spirit would be there that night.

That night, I was busy organizing the puppet booth and making sure that everything was in place, when I saw Jason walk over to the couch, eat some chips, and sit down to look at one of the programs. He looked so handsome in his costume, even though he was dressed all in black, just like Mel Ferrer had been in _Lili. _I wonder if he knows I like him? God, he's so cute!

The show began without a hitch, and I'm also happy to say that this also goes for "Sword, Rose & Cape". Not only the audience love how the Roustabouts clowned around while Marco was trying to sweep Lili off her feet, but also, Jackie managed to get through the entire number without stumbling all over the place, and _that's _saying something. He was pretty proud of himself. I think we all were.

Well, we got through the first act, and I, for one, thought they did a great job. When Mary Anne announced that it was time for intermission, I slipped out through the stage door and sat on a bench. It was a crystal-clear night, the stars were out, and there was a full moon. It was also pretty chilly, and I was wishing I had something on my arms.

I guess someone read my mind, because the next thing I knew, Jason was putting his leather jacket around my shoulders. He has a really nice jacket. It's a black leather bomber with dark gray nylon lining, and a Scottish flag patch sewn on the left shoulder. And it's so _warm. _Considering how cold I was, I was glad to have it. "Thanks," I said. "I needed that."

"No problem, Claud," he smiled, sitting beside me. Boy, whoever invented the phrase "million-dollar smile" obviously had him in mind!

"Aren't you cold?" I asked. I know it wasn't the best way to break the ice, but it was all I could think of to say.

Jason shook his head. "Cold doesn't bother me," he answered. No matter how tough he looked, though, I could still tell he was cold, so I scooted closer to him. That was when I first noticed his eyes. Even though it was dark out, I could see that they looked like two emeralds sparkling in the sun. They were so beautiful.

"I think you're doing a great job," I said. "Also, I don't mean to sound forward, but I just wanted to tell you that you have a wonderful voice."

"Thanks," he said, fidgeting a little. I think he was also blushing. "And I think you did a great job with the puppets. We all do."

"Thanks," I said. Now it was _my _turn to fidget and blush, mostly because I was dying to tell Jason I liked him, but I couldn't find the right words.

"So, how do you think the show's going?" Jason asked.

"Well, aside from Jimmy ad-libbing his line, I think it's going pretty well," I confessed.

"Aye," Jason agreed. "You know, if my dad were alive today, I know he'd be enjoying himself."

"Yeah, same with my grandmother," I said, sounding very melancholy.

That's when Jason first turned to face me. And let me tell you something: I LOVED the way he looked when the moonlight shone on his face at just the right angle, especially with his scar and peaked eyebrows. If we hadn't been talking about Mimi, I would've fainted on the spot.

"What was she like?" he asked.

"She was...she was just one in a million. I could talk to her about almost anything. The one thing I remember the most about her is that she'd make such wonderful herbal tea and serve it in these little teacups of hers—she called it 'special tea'—and we'd just sit and talk, especially if the weather was bad outside. You would've loved her." I had to stop myself for a moment, because I could feel tears coming to my eyes. Even now, it's still a little hard for me to talk about Mimi without becoming too emotional. I quickly wiped them away before asking, "Why do you ask?"

"I never knew my dad," Jason said sadly, looking away. "He was killed in Iraq soon before Mum had me."

I felt really bad for him, mostly because of the fact that Mary Anne never knew her real mother, and that's not something she likes to talk about, not even with us Baby-sitters. "I'm sorry, Jason," I said, patting his arm, which literally felt like stone. He must work out at least once or twice a day to have muscles like that. "Do you ever wonder what he was like?"

"Always," he sighed. "I mean, I—I've seen pictures of him, so I know what he looked like, but I never actually _knew _him, you know?"

I nodded.

"That reminds me," Jason continued. "Mum gave me these for my eighth birthday. She said they belonged to him." He reached under his shirt and pulled out a chain with a couple of tags on it. "These were his ID tags from the Scottish Army. After the officers found his body, they gave these to Mum, and she promised to hold onto them until I was old enough to understand what happened."

Awhile Jason was talking, I noticed that we'd been moving closer together, and our heads were almost touching. Part of it was so that I could see what was on the tags, but most of it was because I really liked him. Anyway, the first thing I noticed on the tags was the name. "Crowe?" I asked.

Jason nodded. "When Mum married Steve, he decided to adopt me," he said, putting the tags back under his shirt. "I guess I should've minded, but I don't. Actually, I think Everett has a better ring to a name like mine."

"So do I," I said. It wasn't the same as telling Jason I liked him, but it was a start.

"Um, Claud, can I tell you something?"

"Sure," I said. I had a pretty good idea what he wanted to tell me.

"Well," he began, clearing his throat, "one of the reasons I came o ut here tonight was because I've been thinking a lot about you lately. In fact, Bebe told me a few days ago that she thinks you like me. I mean, you _like _me, like me."

In that moment, everything just stopped. Right then and there, I realized what had happened. Jason had told me how he felt before I could get a chance to tell him.

"Well, I do," I managed to say, taking his hand. "I really love being with you, Jason. Ever since that one day at lunch when you stood up for Kristy and Abby, and how Kristy and Karen told me about you coming to Andrew's aid after his bike accident. I've been wanting to tell you that for so long."

As soon as I said that, all the toughness just disappeared from Jason's face, and he looked so young and vulnerable, like a little boy. "Oh, Claud," he whispered. "Thank you so much for saying that." He sat closer to me and slipped his hands in both of mine. Our faces were slowly inching toward each other.

The next thing I knew, we were kissing. Every nerve in my body kicked into high gear as I felt his soft, warm, pouty lips on mine, and his fingers gently caressing my hair, face, and neck. My heart raced. My right knee was shaking uncontrollably like a Chihuahua in a blizzard. And you know what? For the first time in my life, I began to understand how Kristy must have felt when Bart kissed her at the Halloween Hop. It was such an incredible feeling, and I wanted it to last forever.

Just then, I heard Mary Anne's voice say, "Places." Jason and I quickly separated. I could tell by the look on Mary Anne's face that she thought she'd invaded my privacy, and felt awful about it. As Jason hurried back inside, I stood up and patted Mary Anne's shoulder.

"It's all right, Mary Anne," I reassured her. "Don't worry about it."

I won't lie to you, I really had no reason to be upset. Jason and I had both admitted how we'd felt about each other, and for now, that was all that mattered.

On my way back inside, I happened to look over my shoulder and see a shooting star. Right away, I knew it was Mimi, because she once told me that every time she saw one, she knew it was Grandpa Yamamoto. "Thanks, Mimi," I whispered, my voice breaking. I knew her spirit was up there watching over me.


	21. Chapter 20: Dawn

A/N: During our production of _Carnival, _we had a cast party at Burger King. Some of the kids were running toward the condiments counter, and the father of one of them said what Watson says in this chapter.

**CHAPTER 20: Dawn**

**TO: Sunny Winslow**

**FROM: Dawn Schafer**

**RE: **_**Carnival**_

**Dear Sunny, Maggie, Whitney, and Jill:**

** Greetings from Stoneybrook! How are you? I've been doing all right, except that I miss you guys a ton. Oh, I just heard that Clover got out of the hospital after having her tonsils out. I guess all that shouting she's known for finally caught up with her, huh? Tell her I said to get well soon, and not to worry, because while she's recuperating, she can have all the frozen yogurt bars she wants. (I know people say ice cream's supposed to help, but if you're into health food, that's the next best thing, wouldn't you say?)**

** Oh, I told you about **_**Carnival, **_**right? I'm sorry you guys missed it, but I'll make sure to bring a copy of the video when I come to Palo City this summer. We can watch it at a We Love Kids Club meeting. I wish you guys could see it, and you definitely would've gotten a good laugh if you'd been at the cast party!**

Just before the second act began, I saw Claudia and Mary Anne coming through the backstage door, and Claudia was wearing Jason's jacket. I wanted to ask her what had happened, but there wasn't time, because I had to get in my place.

The second act, it seemed, started off with a bang. The part that got the most laughs was when I was fanning Renardo with the fan, and he sneezed. Little did the audience know that the sneeze wasn't actually in the script. No, it was a real sneeze, and it came from Pete Black. I'm guessing he's allergic to dust. Even though that was pretty funny, the best number, in my opinion, was "Beautiful Candy".

_"Stop li-ving for reeea-sooon, time-to-start-li-ving-for-rhy-y-yme; I'm-on-a-spree-e-and I-I-I'm gon-na-make-sure-it's-a-per-fect-ly-good-waste-of-ti-i-ime!" _we sang, and the harmonies we'd worked so tirelessly on, WOW! My favorite part was doing a little waltz with Natalie Springer, and then Ricky Torres turning me. Because of the height differenct, it looked more like _I _was turning _him!_

The show continued with the dialogue prior to "I Hate Him", which Jason and I had done at auditions. (By the way, two things here. One, it must be a personal requirement for all directors to use that scene at _Carnival _auditions; and two, the audience had a _little _more control over their laughter when David Michael said the "'Aay, Rosalie!" line.) Anyway, in the scene Jason and I did at auditions, Paul wants Lili to focus on the dance for "Yum Ticky", but all she can think about is Marco. Paul basically bites her head off over it, and then, God knows why, he kisses her. Well, when Jason kissed me—and he's one hell of a kisser, by the way—that's when I put two and two together: Claudia and Jason. I liked the sound of that.

During "Always, Always You", I saw Stacey smiling at Sam, despite the fact that she was in a wooden box with plastic swords coming at her. Apparently, she'd long since gotten over that one rehearsal when she'd lost her temper, and considering how Sam is probably the biggest goofball in the world, it was nice to see her acting this way toward him.

The last number was "She's My Love". I personally like the dialogue that leads into this number, because Lili is testing Paul on his knowledge of love:

_"What would you know about love? How could you understand anything about love?"_

_ "Well, why don't you tell me, Lili? I've always wanted to hear about love from a cheap little..."_

_ "I HATE YOU! YOU'RE A MONSTER AND I HATE YOU!"_

The next thing is, Paul slaps Lili. Well, when Jason raised his hand to slap me, not only did the intro to the song start, but I also shrank back a little and whispered, "No." I hoped Mr. Cheney wouldn't mind, especially since we hadn't rehearsed it that way. When I caught his eye as I made my way offstage, I saw him nod his approval. Now that I think about it, I think hew as glad I didn't try to "modernize" my character.

While the Roustabouts took the set down, I was in the wings, getting ready for my final entrace, and listening to Jason. As I listened to him sing, I realized that Karen was right when she said that he had such a beautiful voice, and there's no doubt in my mind that he deserved that part. I also happened to look across the stage, and saw Claudia standing there crying. I could tell that she was very moved, and thought he was singing to her, and her alone.

Finally, it was time for the curtain call. I'd never heard such applause in my life, especially when I came out. After I took my bow, I caught a glimpse of Verna Baker, Mary Anne's grandmother, sitting in the middle of the front row. Granny, Pop-pop, Mom, and Richard were sitting on both sides of her. I expected Granny and Pop-pop to be there, but I didn't know that Verna was there until now. _I've got to tell Mary Anne, _I thought. She was going to be so thrilled to see her grandma.

While we were greeting the audience, I heard Pete Black saying, "No, Renardo, don't chase that car!" And he started to run, as if the Renardo puppet were doing just that. And yes, it got a lot of laughs, especially from the little kids.

"I wonder what kind of car that was?" Bebe's voice asked.

"I don't know, an Isuzu?" Kristy guessed.

The next thing I heard was Abby saying, "Hi, I'm Joe Isuzu," and erupting into giggles.

We had the cast party at Burger King, and believe me, it was noisy as hell, even noisier than backstage. Still, we had every reason in the world to celebrate. After all, it _was _opening night.

I was sitting at one of the really big tables with Pete, Sam and Stacey, Shannon and Bart, Kristy, Logan and Mary Anne, and Claudia and Jason. Out of everyone at our table, Stacey and I were the only ones with soup or salad. We were all chattering and laughing away, just basking in the afterglow of that night's performance, when Kristy suddenly said, "Uh-oh."

"What?" I asked, and Kristy pointed behind me. I turned around, and here's what I saw: all the little kids were running toward the condiments counter, with their eyes on the sugar, sweeteners, and basically anything to keep them bouncing off the walls all night, and that would've been the last thing their parents needed. I don't know which would've been worse for them, that or the humongous dentist bills.

Apparently, Watson saw them, too. He cupped his hands around his mouth and said, pretty loudly, "STEP AWAY FROM THE SUGAR."

The kids stopped in their tracks. Well, actually, only Jackie stopped, and the others crashed into him. "JACKIE!" they all shouted.

"Well, you heard the man!" Jackie protested. The other kids returned to their seats, grumbling to themselves and shooting Jackie dirty looks. At least they continued eating without further incident. (By the way, I should mention that I was almost tempted to add, "YOU ARE TOO CLOSE TO THE SUGAR." And they were, too.)

A minute later, Jason stood up and said, "Can I have everyone's attention, please?"

At first, nobody was listening, but Kristy solved that problem by putting two fingers in her mouth and letting loose with an ear-splitting whistle. In no time flat, there was dead silence.

"Thanks, Kristy," he said. "I just wanted to tell you, first and foremost, that you guys were wonderful; not only at rehearsals, but also this afternoon and tonight. Since this is the first time I've ever set foot on a stage, I can quite honestly say that it's been a great experience for me, and hope to be able to do it again someday. Also, I feel much more accepted than I did when my family and I first moved here, and on behalf of my family..." He sounded like he was starting to choke up a little, but he quickly pulled himself together and continued, "...I just wanted to say thank you, all of you."

Then Jason raised his drink to toast us. "Here's to a great show," he grinned, and we raised ours in agreement.

Now, I'm not too sure, but I think I heard one of the Stevenson twins say, _"L'Chaim."_

Whoever said it, I couldn't agree more.

**Well, that's how things have been going with me. Tell the Austins I said hi, tell all the kids at Vista that I miss them, and tell Mrs. Winslow that I hope she's feeling better. I can't wait to see you guys and our clients this summer!**

** Love and sunshine,**

** Dawn**


	22. Epilogue: Jessi

A/N: Yes, this is the last chapter. And in case you're wondering, the incident with the puppet really did happen after a performance of our production of _Carnival._

**EPILOGUE: Jessi**

Saturday was our final performance, and once again, we had a full house. After I finished putting my make-up on and doing my stretching exercises (see what a dedicated dancer I am?), I pulled Linny aside to have a little talk with him.

"I just wanted to say thank you for not spinning me too hard either yesterday afternoon or last night," I said. "And I think you've been doing a wonderful job, especially in 'Sword, Rose & Cape'. You really cracked me up."

"Thanks, Jessi," he smiled. I'm also pretty sure he was blushing.

"Well, break a leg, kiddo," I said.

"You, too." And the two of us hugged.

A few minutes later, I saw Dawn walking past Sam as he was polishing his shoes. When he finished, he looked up and said, "Good luck, little mouse." (That's what Marco sometimes calls Lili, by the way.) Dawn rolled her eyes and laughed. Leave it to Sam to say something that corny! And how much you want to bet he'll call her that long after the show ends?

A minute or so later, Mr. Cheney came backstage. "Can I have your attention, please?" he called, over the noise. Thankfully, Kristy didn't have to whistle, which was a good thing, because my ears were still rining from the night before.

"Okay," Mr. Cheney began. "As all of you know, tonight is our final performance. I just wanted you to know that I'm proud of each and every one of you, you've done an excellent job. Also, I know that this doesn't happen very often, but I would like to have a moment of silence to honor the late Jerry Orbach, who played Paul in the original Broadway production. And yes, this is the same Jerry Orbach from _Law & Order."_

We all bowed our heads and were quiet for a minute. I just knew that Mr. Orbach was watching over us, and he was pleased with the show.

"Okay," Mr. Cheney said. "Got get 'em."

Well, the show started okay. The first few musical numbers went really well, and just as I'd expected, Claudia and Karen were both staring dreamily at Jason while he was singing.

The only near-mishap we had was after "Mira" when the parade returns. What happened was this. David Michael was pulling the empty rickshaw, where Stacey had sat earlier, and he was having trouble maneuvering it and seeing where he was going. I would've had trouble with it if I were him. I can only imagine how much harder it was to pull when Stacey was in it! Anyway, that poor kid was so preoccupied with trying to see where he was going that he came within inches of my foot, and that would've sucked, because I wasn't wearing any shoes. Now that I think about it, I'm glad I was the one who almost got run over instead of Kristy, because she really would've given him an earful.

"Sword, Rose & Cape" was next was next, and tonight, it was the best performance ever. IN fact, when Jeff Atkinson did his jazz split (guess who taught him how?), it really brought the house down! If I were in that audience, too, I would've been on my feet, cheering right along with them.

Later, during the reprise of "Always, Always You", when Marco is silhouetted against the tent doing his act, I saw Bebe act as one of his "volunteers". When I saw her give him the card backstage, he bowed and smiled. Bebe looked like she was about to melt. "Did you see that?" she whispered to me.

"I sure did," I said.

"Gee, I can see why Stacey likes him so much," she sighed happily. "If I were in middle school or high school, I'd definitely have my hooks in him."

I smiled and nodded. Sam may be a clown, but he's still a nice guy.

The rest of the show continued uneventfully, and before too long, it wsa time for the curtain call. When I took my bow, which was really pointing my toes and doing a pirouette, I saw Keisha and her family in the middle of the second row. "Yeah, Jessi!" Keisha shouted. I'm just glad she didn't distract me when I was taking my bow, and also that my scrunchie didn't come undone and send my dreadlocks flying all over the place.

Still, it was great to see them.

After we changed out of our costumes, some of us, namely the Bluebird Girls, Marilyn, Shannon, the twins, the clowns/vendors, Dawn, Stacey, Sam, and I, returned our costumes to Mal and Savannah. Even though I was sorry to see it all end, part of me was glad that it was all over.

"Here you go, Mal," I said as I returned my costume. "Don't worry, I won't send you the cleaning bill."

"Well, I should hope not!" Mal laughed, feigning shock. "Do you have any idea how much it would cost to have these dry-cleaned?"

"No, not off the top of my head, but I'm sure it'd cost an arm and a leg," I said. The two of us got a good laugh.

After I finished taking my make-up off, I saw Karen sitting on the couch, and I could tell she was sad that it was over. I started over to her, but stopped when I heard Kristy say to Jason, "Why don't you talk to her? She responds to you better."

Jason nodded and sat on the couch beside Karen. I didn't hear the whole conversation, but I did hear him say, "Don't worry, Karen, we'll see each other whenever you're at your dad's. By the way, I had a lot of fun working with you."

The next thing I saw was Karen climbing up on Jason's lap and resting her head on his shoulder. Jason held her and they rocked back and forht. "I love you, Jason," she said softly.

"I love you, too, Karen," he said, and the two of them rubbed noses.

I thought it was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen. When I glanced at Kristy, I could tell by the look on her face that she was getting an idea.

"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" she beamed.

"You bet," I said. I knew what her idea was right away, and I could tell the others did, too.

"I think it's one of _the _best ideas you've ever had," Mary Anne said.

"Great. Let's go ask him," Kristy grinned, and we all walked over to Jason. On the way, Mal stopped me.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Well, we've just decided to make Jason an associate member," I said.

"All _right!" _she grinned. And we went to catch up with the others.

We joined them just in time to hear Kristy say, "You don't have to come to any meetings, just be on call when we need you."

"Sounds great," Jason said. "All right, I'm in."

We all cheered, high-fived, and hugged him. Well, most of us did. Logan high-fived him, Kristy gave him her signature arm-punch, and Claud kissed him on the lips. When Abby hugged him, she said, in the best Marlon Brando voice she could muster, "Welcobe to the Baby-sitters Club." (Yes, folks, her allergies were acting up again.)

Naturally, it go _mucho _laughs. Luckily, we didn't wake Karen, who was asleep on his lap.

We all knew Jason would make a great member.

**THE END**


End file.
